Free to Live, Free to Love
by justsmile17
Summary: "Blake?" She asked tentatively. He looked up and she gasped at the burning look he gave her as he slowly stalked forward. Breathless, she backed up until she was pinned against a tree, their bodies barely touching. "What-" "Shut up Kitten," he growled, fisting a hand her black hair. "Just shut up," he murmured again, lowering his head and capturing her lips in a desperate kiss.
1. I'm Coming Home

**I do not own the 100.**

Author's note: Hey guys! I had this idea for a story, but I'm not sure how it turned out. So if you read this, review it and let me know if I should continue! Thanks :)

**Kat's POV**

One thousand, four hundred, forty-six days. Thirty thousand, seven hundred four hours. Two million, eighty two thousand, two hundred, forty minutes. That's how long she's been stuck in this hellhole. Did she deserve to be here? Absolutely. She had no delusions that she was innocent. She didn't even protest or argue when they arrested her. There was a silver lining however - one week. That's all she had left before her miserable life was over and she would finally be free. Free from all the anger and pain. Free from this cold, impersonal cell. And free from this floating piece of metal hell that they called home.

With a resigned sigh, Katerina Hale opened her eyes to the familiar sight of the white ceiling of her cell. There were two small lights, one of each side. The walls were a cold gray that matched the color of the floor. Her long sleeve t-shirt was white and her pants were black. She missed seeing real colors. Even her hair was black and her eyes were a stormy gray. At least… they used to be. Her hair was still black but she hadn't actually looked in a mirror in four years so for all she knew her eyes could have changed colors or something.

Kat shifted into a sitting position on her sorry excuse for a bed and walked the two steps to the far wall in order to look out the small window. _Now there was color_, she thought appreciatively as she looked down at Earth. The bright blue of the water, the green of the land and even the white clouds that hovered over everything. She placed a hand on the window, imagining she could reach out and touch it.

It had been 97 years since the Ark was formed and mankind left earth. Rumor has it that there was still 100 years left before it was safe for them to go back to their real home. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to live down there. Would there still be so much radiation that every breath she took would bring her closer to death? Did the grass and the trees grow back? Were there animals? Then she'd remember that everyday that passed brought her closer to 18, closer to her execution date and she'd shake her head, reminding herself that there was no use thinking of what could never be.

With another sigh, Kat turned her back on Earth and started her morning stretching routine. After spending 4 years in this cell with nothing but herself to keep her company, she started occupying her time with the one thing she did have – her body. First she stretched all her muscles until she felt loose and flexible. Then she ran through a series of exercises, some that she had seen her father do and some that she had created herself. Push ups, sit ups, crunches, jumping jacks, squats, lunges, even pretending she was in a fist fight, dodging and punching as she envisioned her attacker. Anything and everything to work all the different muscles in her body. The result was something she was proud of. She was toned and fit, and although she didn't think she would be fighting anyone or running any races, it made her feel good and it gave her something to do everyday.

Kat was sitting on the floor, her legs straight in front of her, her fingers reaching around her boots and her face pressed against her knees as she stretched the backs of her legs. Her eyes, which had been closed as she counted silently in her head, flew open as her cell door buzzer sounded and the room was suddenly flooded with light.

"Prisoner 194," a voice called out in its familiar drawl. "Turn around and face the wall!"

Instead of getting up, Kat slowly raised her head to see a man with short blonde hair and empty blue eyes smirking at her from the door of her cell. He was wearing his usual guards uniform, all black and padded for protection. In his belt was a gun that she knew shot tranquilizer darts (because really, they were in space, there were more efficient ways to kill people, like letting them to get sucked out into space). On the other side of his belt, she knew, though she could only see a part of it, was a small switchblade. She knew it was there because he had taken it from her the day she was arrested. Every time he came into her cell, he would have it in his hand, flicking it open and closed as he spoke to her. She would stand there, hatred pulsing through every cell in her body, as she forced herself not to react to his taunts. She knew he was just looking for a reason to hit her.

Another younger officer stepped into the cell carrying a small box as the blonde officer crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. Kat eyed the box for a moment, her brain racing as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Officer Asston," she greeted, shifting her eyes back to him and bending a leg to rest her arm on, as she attempted to appear casual. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

The smirk dropped from his face, replaced by an annoyed look complete with a disgusted sneer. "It's Ashton, you stupid bitch."

A small smile played on Kat's lips. She knew it was immature and juvenile, but Kat couldn't help herself. Unlike her, Officer Ashton had a hard time controlling his emotions, and he always reacted exactly as she expected him too. "And you're here because…" She raised an eyebrow in his direction. "In case you and your superiors forgot how to count, I still have another week before I turn 18."

His smirk returned as he slowly strolled into the cell. "As much as I would like to see you float, plans have changed. Now get up, and face the wall."

"Plans have changed?" Kat repeated, not moving a muscle. Uncertainty spread through her. Were they going to float her early? Did she do something to get her review moved up a week? She racked her brain, trying to think, but she couldn't come up with an answer. "What plans? What's going on?"

Officer Ashton faked an expression of surprise. "Wait. Did Chancellor Jaha forget to come down here and tell you his plans? How very unlike him. You must be feeling so left out." His smirk grew as Kat glared at him. "You're not the daughter of a Captain anymore, Katerina. You're nothing. Nobody," he whispered menacingly. "Now… Get. Up."

He nodded to the second officer who roughly grabbed Kat's arm and yanked her to her feet. "Get your hands off me," Kat snarled, violently wrenching her arm out of his grip. She was thrown off balance when he abruptly let go of her but she saw an opportunity and continued to stumble forward into Officer Ashton, hitting him slightly with her left shoulder while she gently slipped her switchblade out of his belt, hiding it in her hand.

Officer Ashton grabbed her left wrist in one hand, holding her close to him. She flinched in surprise at how close his face was and tried to turn hers away. His other hand grabbed her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. "If you were anyone else," He whispered, eyes slowly moving from her face down to her chest. Nausea welled in her stomach and Kat had to clench her teeth to stop the bile from climbing up her throat. "This would tempt me very much. And while you do have a decent body, I knew you before you were thrown in here and that means I know who you really are. Just a scared, little girl who's broken beyond repair. And that just doesn't do it for me."

Kat said nothing for a moment as she watched his triumphant, gloating face. Without even thinking, she gathered saliva in her mouth and spat it right in his face.

With a noise of disgust, Officer Ashton backhanded her hard across the face, sending her to the floor hard. She rolled once so her back was to them, and slowly sat up, pretending to have gotten the wind knocked out of her as she surreptitiously slid the switchblade into the outside of her right combat boot.

"Dick," She spat over her shoulder, as the other officer hauled her to her feet once more. She could feel blood from her split lip trickling down her chin but she refused to wipe it away.

"Hold out your right arm," the officer commanded in a bored voice, opening the small box to reveal four large, silver bracelets.

"What the hell is that for?" Kat asked, taking a step back. Officer Ashton stepped up and grabbed her arm, pushing up her sleeve and holding her arm out even as she struggled. The other officer snapped it on and she gasped in pain as the small, thin needles sank deep into her wrist. "What the fuck is this thing?"

A second sharp pain, this time in her neck, made her gasp again. She clapped her free hand to her neck and spun around to see Officer Ashton taking a step back holding a syringe and wearing an evil smile. She could already feel the effects of the drug working through her system. Her vision blurred and Officer Ashton swam in and out of focus. Kat stumbled to her knees and fell over, staring up at him. He knelt down next to her. "Goodbye Katerina Hale," he whispered, still smiling. "I hope we never meet again." Kat's eyes drifted shut and everything went black.

_Some indeterminable time later…_

Kat groaned and winced as she regained consciousness; her head felt thick and was throbbing unpleasantly. She tried to shift into a more comfortable position and frowned when she was unable to. Why was that? Her brain wasn't working properly and everything was fuzzy. Something was holding her down. Suddenly it all came back in a rush. Officer Ashton, the bracelet, the syringe. Her eyes flew open and she gazed around in disbelief.

She was in a small ship, surrounded by what looked like every person from the Sky Box, the prison where they were being held. Most of them looked scared and confused, a direct reflection of what she was currently feeling. She looked down and found she was harnessed to her chair by a pair of red straps. Someone had also put on a thin gray jacket over her white long sleeve shirt. She really hoped it wasn't Officer Ashton. Her stomach curled at the thought. Her eye then caught on the silver bracelet on her wrist, which was this ugly, chunky thing about four inches wide. A small part on the top of it was black. _What the hell is this for?_ She shifted her legs once more and her eyes widened when she felt something in her shoe. The switchblade! She thanked every God, new and old that they hadn't found it. At least she had a weapon wherever they were going. Speaking of which….where were they going?

All of the sudden the lights flickered and a girl screamed as the ship began to shake. Kat gritted her teeth and clenched the straps of her harness. They were obviously moving, so she drew the logical conclusion and assumed they had left the Ark. But where were they headed? Her heart began pounding heavily in her chest. Could they be going to Earth?

Her question was answered when more lights flickered on and the TV's that she hadn't known were there turned on and the Chancellor's face appeared.

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now," he began, looking very grave. Then again, whenever she saw him this was always how he looked. "You've been given a second chance. And as your Chancellor it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us. Indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better we would have sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you… expendable." _Well. If that doesn't make you want to do whatever this man tells them to do then I don't know what will_, she thought sarcastically.

"Your dad's a dick Wells!" Someone shouted. Kat frowned. Her attention was drawn to the black boy sitting across from her. He shifted in his seat, an angry look on his face as he stared even harder at the TV. Her eyes narrowed. He looked oddly familiar… she looked from the boy to the Chancellor and it clicked. The Chancellor's son had somehow managed to get himself arrested and stuck with the rest of the delinquents. The blonde girl sitting to his left also looked familiar, though she couldn't place her face.

"Yeah Finn!"

"Spacewalk Finn, strikes again!" A guy cheered. Kat turned her head to find the source and her eyes widened when she saw a guy wearing a green beanie had unbuckled himself and was currently floating, horizontal to the floor. He crossed his arms and gently moved across so that he was floating between the two rows.

He grinned across at Wells. "Check it out. Your dad floated me after all."

Kat snorted appreciatively, chuckling under her breath. She looked up to find all three of them staring at her. "What?" She shrugged, eyes wide. "That was funny!"

Wells just shook his head, ignoring her. "Strap in before the parachutes deploy," he told Finn seriously.

Cheering came from their right and Kat craned her head to see two other guys beginning to unstrap their harnesses. "Hey, you two! Stay put if you want to live!" The blonde shouted over to them.

They ignored her of course. The pod would occasionally shake, the lights would flicker, and Chancellor Jaha's grave voice was still giving them advice on how to survive, but the idiots took off their harnesses anyway and with shit-eating grins on their faces, began to float around.

"Hey, you're the traitor that's been in solitary for a year," Finn said in front of her. Her brain clicked and suddenly she knew who the blonde was. Clarke Griffin. Her father had been floated for being a traitor and she was arrested and locked up.

"You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk," she countered right back.

"But it was fun!" He grinned. "I'm Finn."

Clarke looked at him for a moment and then seemed to notice the other two guys floating around. "Stay in your seats!" She tried again. Personally, Kat thought she was wasting her breath. It was nice of her to try and all, but seriously, why would they listen to her?

Kat yelped as the ship suddenly jerked hard and slowed down. She clenched her harness tightly, watching with horrified eyes as the two floating boys flew up and crashed into the side of the ship hard. They smashed through some type of wire or pipe, which broke and started emitting steam. Sparks flew everywhere and the lights flickered worse then ever.

Kat's breathing picked up. When she pictured dying she didn't imagine herself hurtling down to earth in a metal ship with about a hundred other delinquents, possibly exploding or breaking bones or being pierced by something and slowly bleeding out. She would very much rather be floated. The two across from her were having a heated, shouted conversation but Kat couldn't bring herself to care enough to listen in. She was slowly counting to 100, keeping her face blank as she tried to calm her heart and her breathing. Her eyes drifted shut to attempt to block out the flickering lights and sparks flying through the air, the screams that came from the people around her. _1, 2, 3, 4, 5… don't think about crashing or exploding… 14, 15, 16, 17, 18…. Don't picture bones sticking out from people's skin…. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30…damn it Kat, stop being so morbid! Pull it together._

Her hands tightened their death grip on the harness as the ship gave one last violent shake and then went still. For about two seconds it was completely silent. No on moved or made a sound as they waited to see if anything else was going to happen. The engines slowly died as well. It was nice not being able to hear anything, but of course, it didn't last long.

Everybody was suddenly undoing their harnesses and rushing down the ladder to get to the door. Kat waited for the mad rush to head down before slowly getting out of her seat. She walked over to where the two boys who had followed Finn out of their seats were lying. They were very still. Too still. Finn himself crouched over them, a solemn look on his face. He looked up when she walked over and met her questioning eyes. He shook his head and look down.

Kat felt sadness creep over her. She didn't know anything about them: not their names, their likes or dislikes or even what crimes they committed to end up here. Feeling like she should do something for them, she memorized their faces, determined to remember them, to not forget that they were here on this momentous day.

She became aware of a commotion going on down below as someone shouted at everyone to stay back. Curious, Kat headed down the ladder herself, leaning against the sidewall as she watched to see what was going on. Everyone was gathered around the door, which was blocked by a guy in a guards uniform. He was tall with dark brown hair that was slicked back on his head and brown eyes. As Kat watched, Clarke shouted for him to stop and began to push her way to the front.

"The air could be toxic," she explained. Kat rolled her eyes. _So what, we should stay here in the pod all 100 – 98, _she corrected with a wince, _packed in here? That would be.. cozy. And probably suicidal._

The guy in front was obviously thinking along the same lines because he said, "If the air is toxic, we're all dead anyway." He turned around to pull down the lever to open the door.

"Bellamy?" Came a soft, curious voice from Kat's left. She turned to see a beautiful girl with long brown hair and blue eyes step forward, staring at the guy in front. He slowly turned around to look at her as she continued to walk towards him. Kat crossed her arms as she watched the show in front of her. They obviously knew each other. Were they friends? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Exes?

"Oh my god," he said softly, his voice obviously full of emotion. He smiled. "Look how big you are." _Ok, that would be a weird thing to tell your girlfriend, _Kat thought, making a face. _Maybe they were old friends._

The girl threw her arms around him enthusiastically. "What the hell are you wearing?" She asked when she pulled back. "A guards uniform?"

"I borrowed it," he explained. "To get on the drop ship." Kat's eyebrow slowly went up. _Borrowed it? You mean stole it. Why would you steal a uniform to get on here? Actually, how did you know that this whole thing was happening in the first place?_

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on you," he continued. _Okay, so that explained one thing. He snuck on her to protect this girl, whoever she was._

She hugged Bellamy again, causing him to chuckle lightly. "Where's your wristband?" Clarke demanded, ruining the touching moment. That girl seriously needed to work on her tone of voice. Every time Kat heard her speak so far it was with a snappy, bossy tone.

"Do you mind?" the other girl turned around to look at her in annoyance. "I haven't seen my brother in over a year." Kat froze in surprise. Brother? Now she knew who this girl was. The Blake family was famous around the arc. Almost as famous as she was. One of the very first laws created on the Ark was that every family was allowed to have one child. A couple years ago Octavia was found in their apartment where she had basically been raised under the floor in secret. Their mother was floated immediately and Octavia was sent to the Sky Box. Kat never heard what happened to the brother.

"No one has a brother!" Someone shouted from the back.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" Someone else answered

With a snarl on her face Octavia made to lunge towards the crowd, though Kat didn't know what she was planning to do – it was impossible to tell who said it. She didn't make it very far because her brother wrapped an arm around her waist and said, "Octavia! Octavia, no! Let's give them something else to remember you by," he said urgently.

"Yeah? Like what?" She asked, the anger still clear in her voice.

"Being the first person on the ground in a hundred years."

Kat straightened, her heart beginning to race again. Octavia was grinning and Bellamy was turning to open the door. This was it. Kat hardly dared to believe it. For the first time in 100 years, mankind was going to see Earth. True, she may die very quickly from radiation poisoning, but she was going to enjoy every moment that she could.

Bellamy pulled the lever and the door sprang open. The first thing Kat saw was white. She squinted against the brightness, blinking rapidly to clear her vision. As it did, Kat let out the breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. Color. There was so much color. From what she could see from behind the rest of the delinquents was bright green grass, tall, strong trees with green leaves and bright sunlight shining down from the clear blue sky.

"We're back bitches!" Octavia screamed, throwing back her head and raising both arms above her head. Kat blinked as she back aware of her surroundings once more. She hadn't even realized that Octavia had stepped onto the ground. Everyone rushed out after, yelling and screaming their excitement and joy.

Kat slowly walked forward after they had all run off and made her way down the ramp. Was this real? Were they really on Earth? Maybe Officer Ashton had knocked her out and floated her anyway. Maybe she was actually dead and this was all just some afterlife dream or something. Holding her breath, Kat stepped off the ramp and onto the solid ground. She fell to her knees, letting her hands brush over the grass and dig into the ground to feel the soil. Looking around, she decided one thing. If this was some type of dream then she didn't ever want to wake up.

She took a deep breath of real air, real oxygen and felt the first real smile in four years spread across her face. They were home... and she was finally free.

**So that's it! If you like the story so far, please leave a review! It'll most definitely encourage me to put up the next chapter sooner :)**


	2. Spiraling Into Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own The 100

**Author's Note:**

ashtree15 - Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy this one too!

Blushing Hazel - Thanks! I like to keep you guys guessing, especially about my OC's. Some of you might be able to guess from this chapter, but I'm not quite ready to spill everything yet!

Something's Brewing in My Head - Thank youuuu!

Guest #1 - Thank you! I have big plans for Kat and Bellamy :) And don't worry about any mistakes, I just think it's cool that you like my story!

minstorai - Thanks! I cannot even tell you how much Clarke annoyed me in the first few episodes, I couldn't help but portray her that way! Idk who the chick is, I was looking for someone on Google who looked what I imagined Kat to look like and found her!

CaptainCumberbatch - Thank you! Just wait till you see how long this one is!

Guest #2 - Thanks so much! Enjoy this chapter!

Guest #3 - Thank youuuu!

**To all who reviewed, thank you again! It makes my day getting those emails :) I feel like I should apologize in advance for how long this chapter is, but I don't think you guys will be complaining. I just couldn't find a good way to break it up. Anyway, hope you like it! Review, por favor!**

Suddenly filled with a restless energy, Kat lurched to her feet and took off at a run. Eyes wide, she took in everything she could as she raced across the ground, leaping over logs and boulders. For the first time in almost 18 years she could actually run. She wasn't cramped in a metal cell anymore – there was so much _space_ here. Her breathing quickly grew labored and there was a painful stitch in her side but she pushed herself a little bit farther before she stopped. Throwing herself to the ground, Kat lay there with her arms spread wide, panting, the smile still on her face as she looked up into the clear blue sky. She felt dizzy, though she didn't know if it was because her body was in shock from breathing in real air or because she was experiencing so many emotions that her body didn't know how to handle it.

_I can't believe I'm here_, she thought, eyes slowly filling with tears. She snorted at herself, shaking herself and blinking rapidly. If there was one thing that Katerina Hale did not do it was cry. She didn't cry when her parents died or when she got arrested – there was no way that she was going to start now.

With a happy sigh, Kat sat up and scooted back so she was resting against a tree. She reached into her combat boot and pulled out the switchblade. Turning it over in her hands she looked down at it with mixed feelings. She flicked it open and held it in front of her face, looking at her distorted reflection for the first time in a long time. She barely recognized herself. Her face was older and more mature; she definitely didn't look like a 13-year-old girl anymore. The first thing she noticed, the one major difference, was the three inch white scar on her face. She turned her head to the right, lightly running a finger on it. It went from the corner of her left eyebrow, around her actual eye and ended about an inch or so below it. There was also the cut from the split lip that Officer Asston had given her.

The corner of her mouth twitched. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Actually, with her grey eyes and pitch-black hair it made her look kind of badass. In her opinion anyway. Her good mood still intact, Kat looked back down at the knife. It's been four years since she held it…what were the chances that she still knew how to use it?

She stood up, carefully keeping an eye on the blade while she gave it a few experimental tosses. Shifting her feet, Kat held the blade tightly in one hand while running through a few different thrusts and parries. The movements felt awkward and unfamiliar – not only was she rusty, but she had never really been a professional knife fighter. Her father taught her how to use one, but she never had anyone to fight against. Still, it made her feel better knowing she had it with her.

Kat held the tip of the blade carefully between three fingers, eying the tree in front of her. She shifted her stance so her left leg was leading and brought her right arm back directly behind her, never moving her eyes from the tree. With a deep breath in and a steady exhale, Kat brought her arm straight down with a snap and watched as the knife flew through the air and… missed the tree completely. Kat winced in embarrassment. She could almost see her father standing there, arms crossed and a disgusted sneer on his face. With a sigh, she went looking for her knife. She really needed to practice.

**Bellamy's POV**

"Look," Octavia muttered to him, nudging his arm and nodding her head towards the front of the drop ship where a small group of people were crowding around Clarke and Wells.

Feeling the tension in the air growing, he walked closer with Octavia to hear what was going on.

"Relax," he heard Wells say to a guy with brown hair while holding both hands up in a peaceful gesture. "We're just trying to figure out where we are."

"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy called out, drawing their attention.

Wells looked at him for a moment, weighing options in his head. "We need to find Mount Weather," he explained, walking closer. "You heard my fathers message. That has to be our first priority."

"Screw your father," Octavia deadpanned. Bellamy grinned as a few people cheered and shouted in agreement. "What?" She continued, noticing the looks on their faces. "You think you're in charge here? You and… your little princess?" Her narrowed eyes shifted to the blonde standing behind Wells.

"Do you think we care who's in charge?" Clarke asked incredulously. "We _need_ to get to Mount Weather! Not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this will be." Bellamy looked around as more people were drawing closer, some nodding and looking worried with what she was saying. "How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a 20-mile trek. Okay? So if we want to get there before dark we need to leave. Now."

"I got a better idea," Bellamy said, thinking fast. "You two go. Find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change," he challenged, relaxing slightly when people shouted 'Yeah!' and agreed with him.

"You're not listening," Wells insisted, looking around at everyone. "We all need to go!"

The pale guy with a nasty sneer and brown hair strode forward and gave Wells a shove. "Look at this everybody. The Chancellor of Earth," he said in a sarcastic drawl. Bellamy grinned appreciatively at the nickname.

"You think that's funny?" Wells asked.

Moving quickly, the guy with the brown hair hooked an ankle around Well's foot and gave him another shove, causing him to fall back on his ass.

"Wells!" Clarke called, trying to move forward. She was quickly held back by one of the other guys' friends.

"Well that was," the guy muttered as he stood over Wells, looking smug. People in the crowd were cheering as they watched what might very well turn into a fight.

Wells struggled to his feet, a pained yet angry expression on his face as he hobbled slightly. He must have twisted an ankle or something when he fell.

"Alright," the guy grinned as Wells finally stood with both fists raised.

"Wow," came a voice to Bellamy's right. He turned to see a girl push her way through the crowd, crossing her arms when she saw what was going on in front of her. She was fairly tall, coming up to about his neck with smooth white skin and black hair that was thrown up in a high ponytail. He couldn't see her face from where he was standing.

"Really?" She asked, in a voice full of sarcasm and disbelief. "We haven't even been here an hour yet and you're already trying to start a fight?" She cocked her head to the side and the corner of her mouth turned up as her voice turned sympathetic. "Are you really that aggressive or are you trying to over compensate for something?" Bellamy let out a surprised laugh as she raised her left pinky and moved it up and down.

The guy's face flushed angrily as laughter echoed around him. "Who the fuck are you?" He spat, glaring at her.

"That's Katerina Hale," Bellamy heard someone say behind him. "The girl who murdered the Captain of the Guard."

The effect of that statement was immediate and unsettling. The crowd was shocked into silence for a full three seconds before the muttering broke out. People shifted uneasily and Bellamy even thought he saw a few of those closest to her take a step back.

Katerina turned her head to look for the speaker and their eyes met. Bellamy felt shock run through him though he didn't know why. It could have been any number of things: the white scar that was visible on the left side of her face paired with a split lower lip, her piercing silver-gray eyes or the fact that she was really quite pretty. Although she definitely didn't look capable of throwing a punch let alone murdering a fully-grown man. Never mind the fact that the man was trained in combat.

The corner of her mouth lifted as she broke eye contact and looked at the people behind him. "Thanks for the introduction," she bowed her head slightly. "But I think the whole title is a little excessive. I really would just prefer Kat." She turned back to the two boys who were still staring at her in shock. "Now, This isn't about me. I believe we were waiting for you guys to finish proving that you are big, strong, capable men. Proceed," she waved them on.

They seemed confused by the fact that she wasn't going to try and stop the fight. Wells shifted slightly and both of them tensed again turning towards each other. The guy with brown hair faked a punch with a grin, waving Wells forward. Just as people started cheering again and egging them on, the Spacewalker jumped off from the side of the ship and landed between the two boys. The crowd fell silent again.

"Kid's got one leg," the Spacewalker told the guy with brown hair. "How about you wait until it's a fair fight." Although it sounded like a question, the Spacewalkers face and stance suggested otherwise. Bellamy eyed him with speculation – he was going to have to keep an eye on that one.

"Hey Spacewalker!" Octavia called, striding forward. Bellamy fought the urge to groan by clenching his teeth. "Rescue me next," she suggested her voice dropping down an octave. The Spacewalker chuckled and just like that the tension seemed to dissipate.

The guy with the brown hair turned to Kat and he shoved a finger in her face. "I'll deal with you later," he snarled. "This isn't over!"

Kat's eyebrows went up as she looked at him. "I can hardly wait," she said drily. "Bye!" she called, waving her pinky finger again as the guy turned his back on them and walked away with the rest of his gang.

The crowd was rapidly dispersing. Spacewalker strolled away, Clarke went to help Wells with his ankle and Bellamy slowly walked up to his sister, an exasperated look on his face.

"What? He's cute," she shrugged as if that explained everything.

"He's a criminal."

"They're all criminals," Octavia said slowly as if he were an idiot. "Speaking of…" She said, looking around. "Hey! Kat!" Octavia waved, making the girl turn around in surprise.

"Octavia!" Bellamy hissed as she walked towards her. She sent him a pointed look and totally ignored him.

He wasn't part of the conversation but he could still hear what they were saying. He didn't think this Kat person was capable of doing any real damage, but he still kept a close eye on them.

"Hello," Kat said, looking at Octavia curiously.

"Hey," Octavia greeted, walking up to her with that reckless grin. "I'm Octavia Blake."

"Kat Hale," She answered, shaking Octavia's offered hand. "Aren't you supposed to be afraid of me? They say I killed the Captain of the Guard, you know."

Octavia shrugged. "I don't know if you did or didn't. Just figured I'd introduced myself to the only other person here who everybody already knows. Plus, you know, if you are a murderer it would probably be smart of me to get on your good side."

Kat shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, returning Octavia's grin. "So who do you think is more famous; you or me?"

"Hard to say," Octavia said thoughtfully. "We both broke some pretty big laws up on the Ark."

"True." Kat's eyes flickered over Octavia's shouldered and met his. "Listen I better go. Between the holes your brother is boring into my head with his glare and the constipated look on his face, I'd say he either doesn't want you talking to me or he wants to talk to you."

Octavia rolled her eyes, shooting him a glare over her shoulder. "Don't pay any attention to him."

"It's alright. I've got lots of things I gotta do like…" She paused, thinking. "Uh… exploring! Yeah, so I'll see you around."

Octavia waved as Kat strolled away before turning around and walking back to him. "You know, you don't have to be such an overprotective moron, Bellamy."

He shook his head and grabbed Octavia's arm to pull her away from people who could possible overhear them. "Look O, the whole reason I came down here was to protect you."

"I don't _need_ protecting," she emphasized, yanking her arm out of his grip angrily. "I have been locked up, one way or another, all my life! I am _done_ following orders." Bellamy looked down, feeling that familiar guilt creep over him. "I need to have fun, Bell," she said in a softer voice, trying to get him to see her side. "I need to just… do something crazy just because I can and no one, including you, is going to stop me."

She didn't understand the risk he had taken to come down here for her. "I can't stay with them all."

"Now what are you talking about?" She asked in an exasperated voice.

Bellamy glanced at the group of people laughing behind him and guided her to a more secluded area. "I did something, okay? To get on the drop ship, something that they will kill me for when they come down." Octavia's eyes immediately filled with confusion and concern. "I can't say what it is just yet but you have to trust me. You do still trust me, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She glanced towards the front of the ship, and back at him. "But you need to trust me too, Bellamy. If you keep trying to tell me what to do I think I'm going to go crazy." She waited until he gave her a reluctant nod before walking away.

"Sounds like a party," He heard Octavia say when she walked up to the Spacewalker, Clarke, Wells and two dorky looking dudes. Bellamy hurried after her. "Make it five!"

"Hey," Bellamy touched her shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Going for a walk," she answered in a tight voice, moving out of his grip once again.

"Hey!" Clarke said suddenly, striding forward and grabbing the Spacewalkers wrist to look at the wristband. "Did you try and take this off?"

"Yeah? So?"

"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead."

"Should I care?"

"I don't know, do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months because they won't if they think we're dying!" When he didn't say anything she continued. "Okay. Now let's go."

They started to walk away and Octavia turned to look at him, an expectant expression on her face. "Go on," he gestured with his head. A grin spread across her face and she gave him a hurried kiss on the cheek before running off after the others. He stared after her, thinking back to what the loud blonde had been saying. A plan was already beginning to form in his mind…

**Kat's POV**

Kat sat on a log, elbows resting on her knees as she watched people continue to celebrate. They were singing, laughing and dancing but she couldn't bring herself to join them. Partly because she sounded like a dying animal when she sang and partly because she wasn't in the mood for dancing. Not to mention the fact that nobody wanted her around. She sighed. Already she had to deal with the sidelong glances and the whispered conversations as people passed her. One girl even looked up as she was walking towards her, stopped with wide eyes and turned to basically run in the other direction. It almost felt like _she_ was toxic.

She started as someone sat down on the log next to her. She turned her head and saw that it was the Blake boy. What was his name again? Something with a B…

"So," he said, mimicking her pose as he looked down at her with a small smile on his face. "How was your exploring?" He asked, referring to her earlier conversation with Octavia.

"It was…. Like nothing I've ever seen before," she said truthfully. They both fell silent, letting her statement sink in.

"Did you really kill the Captain of the Guard?" He asked out of nowhere.

Kat grinned at his audacity – so different from the way everyone else was tiptoeing around her. "Oh you're just gunna dive right in there aren't you? Okay. If we're asking personal things about each other then I've got one for you – how did you steal that guard's uniform and sneak on to the drop ship?" She challenged.

They stared at each other for a moment. "Touché," he said quietly, his smile fading slightly.

She gave him a questioning look. "I mean seriously. I don't even know you, why would I tell you anything?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Hi, I'm Bellamy Blake," he greeted. Kat looked from his outstretched hand and up to his twinkling brown eyes.

"Bellamy," Kat said softly, shaking his hand. "That's an oddly beautiful name for a boy."

"Beautiful?" He repeated, throwing her a mock offended look. "Beautiful? Come on, have you seen me? If there are any words that are associated with my name and me it'll be more along the lines of… handsome. Manly. Ruggedly good-looking." **(Fun fact! In French, Bellamy really does mean handsome. And can I just say they did a damn good job with their casting? *Fans self*)**

Kat raised the corner of her mouth into a smirk, feeling entertained despite herself. "No, I'm pretty sure I meant beautiful. Bellamy," She said again slowly. "It really just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? What do people call you for short? Bells?"

She wasn't able to read the expression on his face. "You think you're funny, don't you?"

Kat shrugged. "Maybe a little."

"Well what about your name?" Bellamy asked, cocking his head to the side.

"What about it?"

"Your name is Kat," he said as if that should explain everything. "Like the animal."

"So?" She frowned.

"So… you don't look anything like a cat." His eyes ran over her face. "With your small button nose, wide eyes and thin frame you look more like a kitten."

"Do _not_ start calling me kitten," she warned, grey eyes flashing as entertainment was quickly replaced with irritation.

His grin widened at her reaction. "Sure thing… Kitten." With an angry huff, Kat made to get up and walk away, not seeming to realize that her hand was still in his. He gave it a gentle tug, making her sit back down. She looked down at their hands, noticing the difference in skin color. His large, somehow golden tan hand completely enveloped her small pale one.

Kat looked back up at his amused face. "Are you going to let go or are we going to sit here and hold hands all day?" She felt annoyed. She _literally_ did the same immature trick with a nickname this morning, except this time she was the one who showed the predictable reaction.

Bellamy let go, raising his hands in the air in a defensive gesture. "Look I didn't come over here to annoy you-"

"You didn't."

He smiled knowingly but continued on anyway. "-I just wanted to warn you. You made a real enemy today." He nodded to the guy who shoved Wells earlier and they both turned to watch him stomp through the forest with the rest of his gang trailing behind him. "I mean, questioning the guys manhood and implying that he has a small dick is bad enough, but to do it in front of the entire group? Not the smartest thing you could have done."

Kat rested her chin on her hand, still watching the other guy. "Do you think he looks more like a rat or a frog?" She asked in a wondering voice.

"What?" He asked, sounding bewildered.

"You're right, I was thinking more like a frog too. It's something about his eyes…"

"I- did you listen to anything I just said?" He asked, exasperated.

Kat sighed, dropping her arm and turning to face him. "Yes, I heard what you said. It's very… thoughtful of you to try and warn me, but I don't need nor want your help. I can take care of myself."

"Right," Bellamy nodded slowly. "Because you murdered the Captain of the Guard and all that."

Kat paused, frowning at the tone of his voice. She looked up into his face, searching and suddenly she knew. Bellamy didn't believe that she had murdered the Captain, didn't believe that she was capable of it. She didn't know how that made her feel. Ever since that day, everyone who had heard what had happened had always believed she was guilty. After a moment, she decided it didn't matter either way.

It was good to be underestimated. Let people pretend that they have some idea of who she was. This way, there were no expectations for her. This way, if need be, she could shut them all up and prove them wrong.

With a sigh, Kat rolled her eyes and stood up. "Hey Blake?" She waited with a polite smile until he looked up at her, then bent down until she was level with him and said in a soft whisper. "Try and keep in mind that you know nothing about me or my life, before you go thinking you know me, okay?"

"Sure thing, Kitten," he nodded, a patronizing smile on his face and Kat felt irritation run through her again. With one hand she shoved hard on his chest, watching with a satisfied grin as his arms pin wheeled before he fell backwards off the log, landing on his back with his legs dangling slightly in the air. "What the fuck was that?" He snapped angrily, coming up to rest on one elbow.

"Sorry," She grinned down at him, widening her eyes innocently. "Your neck was looking a little tired, you know, from holding up that giant, over-inflated ego you call a head. I felt bad for it." She shrugged. "Anyway, see you around Bells!" She waved before turning around and walking away.

There was a paused and then… "Seriously?" She heard him yell from behind her. Her grin widened. Juvenile and immature, true, but oh so satisfying.

Kat slowly walked through the forest, looking around. She was still feeling restless; maybe she should have volunteered to go with Clarke and the others on their trek to Mount Weather. At least then she would be doing something. It was kind of ironic. When she was stuck in her cell she had nothing but time with nothing to do – until her execution date of course. Now she was free and she really did have nothing but time – her whole life, really – and _still_, she had nothing to do.

Her eyes fell on Wells, who was walking through the forest toward the ship carrying a bunch of small logs and sticks in his arms. Eyebrows furrowed, Kat abruptly changed directions and headed towards him.

"Hey," She greeted as she cautiously approached him. She didn't know how he would react after her part in the almost-fight this morning.

Wells head raised and he just looked at her for a long moment. Kat couldn't read the expression on his face. "Hey," he finally said.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, watching as he dumped the branches in a pile in front of the drop ship.

"Collecting some wood for a fire. It's going to get dark in a couple hours."

"Can I help?"

Wells jerked a shoulder up. "Sure. I guess."

He turned and walked away, back towards the forest and Kat trudged along behind him. Even through his jacket she could tell that his shoulders were tense and hunched. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was not a happy person. The sounds of the other delinquents eventually faded as they walked.

"You need to look for small sticks and things as well as slightly bigger logs, maybe as big as your arm," he muttered shortly.

She frowned. _What would a normal person with friends do in this situation? Change the topic? Tell a funny story?_ She inwardly grinned at that one. Kat didn't know any funny stories. _Ask him how he's feeling? Guys don't normally like to talk about their feelings though. Then again neither do I._ Ah, what the hell. It was worth a shot. "Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

_Wrong move,_ she thought with wide eyes as Wells suddenly dropped everything that he was carrying and spun on his heel to get right in her face. "Am I alright?" He repeated in a disbelieving snarl. "I was just launched thousands of miles in space in a drop ship with almost one hundred criminals, crash landed in a radiation soaked forest, my best friend hates me, and to top it all off, everyone else does too because my father either had them locked up or gave the order to have one of their family members floated! Does it sound like I'm alright?" He shouted angrily.

Kat blinked, but didn't move a muscle. Wells was breathing heavily, fists clenched tightly at his side as he stared at her. A couple of seconds later he took a deep breath and stumbled back a few steps. "I'm sorry," he said, wiping a hand wearily over his face. "I didn't mean to-"

"Yes you did," Kat interrupted. "But that's okay. If you need to scream and shout a bit more, maybe throw a few things, I don't mind. I can take it."

"You mean that, don't you?" Wells asked curiously. Kat nodded. "Thanks, but I think I'm alright for now."

Kat accepted this in silence as she followed his lead and helped him pick up the sticks that he had dropped. Now what? Feeling incredibly awkward and out of her depth, Kat said, "I wouldn't take what the others say personally. They're looking for someone to blame and since it was your father who has the unfortunate task of giving the orders, you're an easy target. As for your best friend issue, I'm the wrong person to give advice seeing as I've never really had any friends, but I guess just be there for her – you are talking about Clarke aren't you?" He nodded reluctantly. "Right. And as for the whole crash landing on earth thing – you really need to stop and take a breath of the radiation soaked air," she said with a grin.

"Do you realize that we are the first people in almost 100 years to be here?" She asked, eyes lighting up as she shoved her bundle of sticks under one arm and gestured with another. "We're breathing real air, not that stale shit that they had to make on the Ark. These trees… they're real! This giant tree started out as something tiny, and then with a little water and sunlight it grew into this! There's something amazing about that isn't there?"

Wells looked from her to the trees with a reluctantly amused expression. "You really feel passionate about this don't you?"

"Of course," Kat said, feeling like this should be obvious. "The earth is this beautiful, fascinating, mysterious place. It's almost definitely dangerous, cause you know, every breath we breathe could be bringing us closer to death. Never mind the fact that we still don't know what's out there." Kat paused to pick up another stick. She pointed it at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It could also be because I was supposed to be floated next week and all of the sudden I'm looking at the rest of my life. Barring any unforeseen complications, obviously."

Wells picked up a few more sticks before looking at her from the corner of his eye. "And you don't… blame me for any of that? Like the others?"

"No," Kat answered honestly. "You're dad never floated any of my family and I don't blame him for locking me up."

Wells stared at her incredulously. "…Who are you?"

She grinned. "I'm just Kat."

They continued walking for a while in silence until their arms were full. "We should turn back," he said.

Kat nodded before falling back into step with him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"If they really wanted to see if the earth was inhabitable, why did they send a bunch of juvenile delinquents? We don't know anything about find food, which plants or fruit are edible or not. We don't have engineers who can figure out how to fix the communication system on the ship. What if someone gets really hurt or sick? Are they going to die because we don't know how to save them? It just doesn't make any sense."

"Didn't you hear my father?" Wells said bitterly. "They don't know if the earth is safe and we're _expendable_."

"But still," Kat insisted. "We're not their best chance of determining if earth is inhabitable. They sent a bunch of teenagers - "

"I don't know. My father didn't exactly explain his decision to me." Wells snapped over his shoulder. _Okay, _Kat thought. _Touchy subject._ She fell silent again as they made their way back to the drop ship. She added her sticks to Wells growing pile and straightened up, staring down at it with her hands on her hips.

"Did you find any water yet?" Kat looked to her left and almost groaned out loud when she saw who was standing there. It was frog boy and his silent friend with short-cropped black hair and dark skin.

"No, not yet," Wells said straightening, trailing off when he also saw who it was. "I'm going back out if you want to come." Kat raised her eyebrows at the offer then turned to look at what was carved into the side of the ship. It read "First son, First to dye."

Frog boy gave a dark chuckle, and for the first time Kat noticed that he had a knife in his hand, obviously one that he made. Where the hell did he learn to do that? "You know, my father…he begged for mercy in the airlock chamber when your father floated him." Understanding dawned on Kat's face. At least now they knew why he had such a giant stick up his ass.

Kat's eyes flickered back to Wells, who had a hardened look on his face. He walked past Frog boy and his friend, making sure to brush shoulders. "You spelled die wrong, geniuses."

They watched him walk away for a moment. "He's right you know," Kat said, speaking up for the first time. "If you meant die like a person's life is ending it's d-i-e. This dye means to color something, like clothes for instance. So unless you meant that the first son's are the first to dye clothes, then you've spelt it correctly." She gave them both an innocent smile before heading off in the opposite direction from Wells. She figured she'd give him some time alone since he probably wasn't in the best mood and went off to do some more exploring.

A few hours later, Kat found herself sitting on yet another log, this time around a huge bonfire that someone had set up when the sun had gone down. She stared into it, mesmerized by the colors of the fire, how high the flames reached and the tiny sparks that jumped up from the ground before dying out. It was constantly moving, constantly writhing in the air – a beautiful and dangerous thing. The noise from the crowd around her grew louder. They sounded wild and slightly insane. She stared harder into the flames, trying to ignore them, but it was almost impossible.

Unwillingly, her eyes moved to the right where frog-boy (whose real name she found out was Murphy) was bending over another person who was holding their arm on a log to get their bracelets taken off. John, the dark silent boy with Murphy was holding the guys arm still while Murphy would pry off the bracelet with a long piece of metal from the ship The crowd was chanting take it off and when it was off the boy raised both hands over his head triumphantly, making the crowd cheer louder still.

Kat sat there, watching with mixed feelings. Bellamy had riled them all up with talk of how the people on the Ark would never forgive them for their crimes when they came down to earth. That they would still be executed for breaking the law. Her eyes flickered to where he was standing a little off to the side, arms crossed and a smug smile on his face as he watched. He knew exactly what to say to make them afraid. These kids didn't want to be executed or locked up again. They were down here and they were free. They wanted to live! So what should they do? Bellamy had an answer for that one too. If they didn't want everyone on the Ark coming to earth, then they needed to make them believe that it wasn't safe. That people down here were dying. When the bracelets were taken off, it appeared as though it's wearer was dead. So if everyone took their bracelets off, the people on the ark would think that it wasn't safe and they would stay right where they were.

It was a smart plan. A clever plan. Hell, when Bellamy spoke she wanted to shout and yell with the rest of them. She didn't want to finally be free just to have them come down here and either kill her or lock her up again. So she could understand where they were coming from.

But something about it just felt wrong. When she thought about the four thousand people stuck on that Ark, her stomach twisted unpleasantly. Shouldn't they get the chance to come down here and be free too? Should she sacrifice her happiness and her freedom for the rest of the people up there or does she say screw you and think only about her survival?

As if feeling her gaze, Bellamy turned his head and their eyes met. With his smug smile still in place, Bellamy walked towards her, a definite swagger in his step. Kat stood, feeling like she needed to be on an even field with him.

"Hey Kitten," he greeted, stopping in front of her. Kat fought the urge to take a step back, instead tilting her head up so she could see his face. He was too close to her, in her personal space and she knew he did it on purpose. She refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her take a step back.

"Blake," she nodded back, ignoring the stupid nickname. "Not even here for a full day and already making moves to become leader of juvenile delinquents? How ambitious of you. Should I start calling you Boss now?"

"That's not necessary. Although…" Bellamy cocked his head to the side, his eyes flickering down to her lips briefly. "Coming from you, Kitten, I really wouldn't mind."

"Don't call me that," she snapped automatically, flushing without knowing why.

A particularly loud cheer broke the moment and they both looked over as yet another person had successfully taken off their bracelets. Bellamy's grin widened as he turned back to her. "What about you, _Kat_?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to let Murphy take your bracelet off? Send your very own fuck you to the people who locked you away?"

"Why?"

His eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. "What do you mean, why? Do you really want them to come down here and kill you?"

Kat shook her head. "No, I mean why are you doing all this?" She asked, gesturing to the cheering crowd around them.

He still looked confused. "Do you really think they'll forgive you and everyone else here? If they think we're all dead-"

"So you're telling me you're going through all this trouble to help _us_?" She interrupted him, watching him carefully.

"Of course," Bellamy said shortly. "Why else would I be doing it?" He shifted and looked away, but not before she saw a glimpse of something in his eyes. Fear. She knew it well and she knew what it looked like. Bellamy was afraid of something. But what? Kat never got the chance to ask.

"Who's next?" Bellamy shouted, turning from her and looking out into the crowd.

Kat looked past Bellamy and cursed under her breath. Wells had just walked into the firelight, looking around with wide eyes, his face a mixture of disbelief and anger. This was not going to end well.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

Bellamy held out a hand as that John kid made to move toward Wells, a dark look on his face. "We're liberating ourselves," Bellamy explained, making sure that his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're trying to get us all killed." Bellamy looked away, annoyed as Wells continued. He turned to face the crowd, trying to talk some sense into them. "The communications system is dead. These wristbands are all we've got! Take them off and they'll think we're dying! That it's not safe for them to follow!"

"That's the point… Chancellor. We can take care of ourselves. Can't we?" He called back to the crowd. He smirked at Wells as the crowd chorused a cheer of 'Yeah!' behind him.

"You think this is a game? Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there." Wells looked at her briefly. "They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers!" Kat's eyes flickered to Bellamy. He shifted, looking at the crowd uneasy. "I don't care what he tells you! We won't survive here on our own!" Wells turned back to Bellamy. "And besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"

Bellamy's face hardened. "My people, already are down. _Those_ people," He stressed, pointing to the sky. "Locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that."

"My father didn't write the laws."

"No. He enforced them. But not anymore. Not here. Here, there are no laws," Bellamy's voice grew progressively louder. "Here, we do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want! You don't have to like it Wells, you can even try to stop it – change it – kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want!"

Kat watched him, unable to name the feeling inside her. The crowd was captivated by him, hanging on his every word. The firelight danced across his face accentuating his jaw line and making him look older. Stronger. And even though Kat didn't agree with what he was saying, she wanted to. Damn, she wanted to.

A drop landed on her face, startling her out of her ridiculous thoughts. She looked around, confused, and then it was if someone had turned on the faucet – water suddenly started pouring down on their heads. She slowly walked away from the fire, tuning out her once again cheering fellow delinquents.

Rain. She couldn't believe it. It was _raining_. She had heard stories, but they didn't do it justice. Kat stared up in wonder at the water falling from the angry, slate gray clouds in the sky. It was a heavy, steady rain that had soaked her within seconds, making her hair and clothes stick close to her body. She watched in wonder as the rain hit the tops of the trees, dripping onto the leaves before finally falling to the ground where it gathered in puddles, making the grass soft and soggy. The sound of the rain hitting the leaves and the ground calmed her body as she listened and the smell… it was peculiar but if Kat had to put a name to it she would have to say it was full of promise.

Kat tilted her head up to the sky, closing her eyes as the rain hit her face. Grinning widely, she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, gathering a mouthful of water and swallowing it. Eyes still closed, she flung her arms out to the side and spun in a circle. Her hair, which she had taken down when it started to rain, clung to her face and neck. With a happy sigh, Kat flopped down on a soft patch of grass that was partially protected by the trees and watched the rainfall.

Wells found her there hours later, eyes closed and dozing slightly. A twig snapped under his foot and her eyes flew open.

"Sorry," Wells winced apologetically. She waved it away, resting her head back against the tree and looking up at him. He glanced down at her uncertainly. "May I?" He asked, gesturing to the tree across from her. She nodded and he sat down.

They looked at each other for a few moments. "I feel like I should ask you if you're alright, but the last time I did that it didn't go so well," She said with a grin.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that," He said again, looking slightly ashamed.

"No big deal," Kat shrugged. "You have a lot going on right now."

"Yeah. Can you believe that everyone bought what Bellamy was saying earlier?" Wells asked, the disgust clear in his voice.

"Yes," Kat said truthfully. She looked back at him to see the incredulous look on his face. She shrugged again. "He's strong, persuasive and outspoken. And it helps that he's saying exactly what everyone wants to hear."

Wells rolled his eyes. "You're only saying that because you think he's attractive."

Kat's eyes widened and she felt her face flush. Thank god it was dark. "I- what- He… I do not!" She sputtered, automatically denying what he was saying.

"It's okay, Kat, you're not the only one. All the girls here are already watching him with those googly eyes. I swear one of them almost fainted when he walked by-"

"Wells," she interrupted, looking him in the eye. "I am _not_ attracted to Bellamy Blake."

"Alright, alright," Wells chuckled raising his hands. "Whatever you say. Listen, is it alright if I sleep here? Everywhere else is still pretty soaked from the rain. Plus, everyone else here annoys me," he added.

"And I don't?" Kat asked with a knowing smirk.

He gave her a grudging smile. "You less so then others."

She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "I'll take it. The tree's all yours."

"Thanks," he said, settling down. "Night."

"Night," she murmured as he closed her eyes. Kat, however, was wide-awake, still in shock about his previous comment. She was _not_ attracted to Bellamy Blake. So what if he was tall and had deep brown eyes and a rough, husky voice? So what if he had high cheekbones and a strong jaw line? If she felt any sort of emotion for Blake it would have to be irritation and a mild curiosity for what is driving him to go through all of this. Yeah, she nodded to herself resolutely. That was definitely it.

Besides, Kat had never been attracted to another person before. She was sure that she would know what it would feel like when it actually happened. She briefly contemplated her non-existent love life. Being locked up for most of her teen years has seriously screwed her over on that point. She's never been attracted to a boy, never had sex, hell, she's never even had her first kiss. Anything beyond that was just pointless. In her opinion, true love didn't exist. And if what she witness during her life was love…then she didn't want any part of it.

With a derisive snort at the absurdity of her thoughts, Kat shook her head and stood up to relieve herself before trying to get some sleep. Lost in her thoughts, she wandered a little farther out from where they had made their temporary camp and took care of her business. On the way back, she was so preoccupied that she almost ran into a short boy with light brown hair.

"Oh shit, sorry-"

"Have you seen Bellamy or Murphy?" The boy snapped angrily. "These two douche bags stole my jacket."

"No, sorry," Kat shrugged. "Haven't seen them." With an angry curse the boy stalked off. Kat shook her head and yawned, thoughts of the soft patch of grass calling to her. Man what a day. She really hoped that she would be able to get some sleep. Maybe when she woke up in the morning Clarke and the others would be back with food.

With a happy sigh at the thought, Kat snuggled into the soft grass at the foot of her tree and closed her eyes. A second later, she frowned and sat up, looking across to where Wells had been sleeping not 5 minutes ago. It was empty.

Kat got up again, squinting into the darkness. "Wells?" She called softly. She waited for an answer but none came. "Wells? If you're out there, answer me. This isn't funny!" Still no answer.

Unease settled over her like a blanket. Bellamy and Murphy weren't at the camp…and now Wells was missing. Her mind flashed back to the scene by the fireplace a couple of hours ago and all of the sudden Kat wasn't tired anymore. There was no such thing as coincidences. She had a _very_ bad feeling about this.

Spinning around in a circle, Kat looked for clues about where Wells could have gone but found nothing. Muttering under her breath, Kat picked a random direction and set off at a jog. It was completely possible that she was over reacting. But the tight knot at the pit of her stomach was saying otherwise and she usually trusted her gut.

Her eyes darted through the dark forest, looking for signs of life while her imagination ran on overdrive. Were they beating Wells up? Stabbing him with those stupid homemade knives? Was he conscious? Her speed picked up at the thought. She zigzagged through the trees, trying to cover as much ground as possible.

Kat's head whipped to the right as she dimly heard someone yelling, "No! No, please don't do this!" She abruptly changed directions, breaking into a run. After stumbling on a large root, Kat ran harder and within seconds she found the source of the yelling. She took .5 seconds to take in the scene in front of her. Murphy, John and some other kid she didn't recognize was holding Wells down to the ground as they tried to pry off his wristband with a long piece of metal from the drop ship.

Wells was clearly struggling and shouting "No!" over and over again, and still these idiots weren't listening. Heart pounding hard in her chest, Kat skidded down the rocky hill. "Hey!" She shouted angrily, running towards Wells. "Stop! What the hell are you doing?!"

The boys briefly looked up as she approached but didn't stop. "Get it off!" Murphy shouted frantically.

Kat finally reached them and without stopping to think, took both hands and shoved John off Wells. He sprawled on his side and Kat moved onto the other boy, kicking him in his side with all her might as Murphy managed to take of Wells' wristband. John came up behind her wrapping his arms around her and lifting her bodily off her feet and she kicked and struggled.

"Kat!" Wells shouted, trying to get up and help her. With a vicious snarl, Murphy punched Wells in the temple and Wells collapsed back on the ground unconscious.

"Hold her!" Murphy ordered as the unnamed boy helped John hold onto her, each of them grabbing one of her arms. She struggled to break free but they just tightened their grip. "You," he said shortly as she shook her hair out of her face. Murphy slowly walked towards her, twirling the metal piece in his hand. A pleased expression crossed his face. "I said I'd deal with you later, didn't I?"

Kat's jaw clenched as her eyes flickered to Wells' prone body. She really hoped he wasn't hurt too bad. "You did say that," She responded, feigning calmness. Her arms were going numb – she seriously didn't like these assholes touching her. "So what's it going to be? A stern lecture? A-"

Murphy's hand whipped out and Kat's head snapped to the side as she was suddenly backhanded across the face. She froze, staring down at the ground with her hair covering her face. Through the shock running through her, Kat dimly realized that blood was trickling through her hair and down the right side of her face. The bastard had hit her with the hand that was holding the metal piece.

Her jaw clenched and her hands curled into fists, but it wasn't because she was in pain. In fact, she barely felt anything. She was battling to rein in that familiar icy rage and hatred, to shove it back inside the box that she usually keeps locked and hidden deep inside her. Her eyes squeezed shut and in her mind's eye, a face burned clear, a face with receding black hair and cold blue eyes. A face that was sneering at her. _All of this is your fault, Katerina_, the face murmured in a soft whisper. _You are nothing. Insignificant. Worthless. This will help you to remember that - forever._

With a gasp, Kat lost control and that cold hatred and rage spread through her body with every beat of her pounding heart. She welcomed it, encouraged it even.

Time seemed to slow down and she felt herself go on autopilot.

With a cold smile, Kat straightened, tossing back the hair that wasn't stuck in the blood on her face. "Do you feel better now?" She asked, watching his eyes narrow in anger. "Tough? Powerful? More like a man?"

"Shut up!" Murphy snarled, though he looked slightly disconcerted that Kat didn't seem to be afraid. He looked at the two holding her. "I'm in charge, you're the one that is being restrained!"

Just a little bit closer…

"Is that all you've got, Murphy?" She shouted, goading him. "You hit like a girl-"

"Shut up you stupid bitch!" He roared, stepping forward to yell in her face.

Kat's grin widened, satisfaction running through her. "I told myself a long time ago that I would never, _ever_ let another man put his hands on me like that again," she shared with him softly. "Let alone a spineless piece of shit like you."

"You-!" Murphy's breath rushed out of him in a pained grunt as Kat quickly kneed him in the groin. He immediately sank to the ground, cradling himself as he wheezed in pain. Without missing a beat Kat used their momentary distraction to yank her right arm free and punched the unnamed boy in the jaw, causing him to let go of her left. She didn't feel her knuckles split – the mixture of adrenaline and rage seemed to numb her from the pain. _Insignificant,_ the voice whispered, fueling her anger.

The boy reeled back as she advanced, kicking him in the stomach. All of the sudden she was tackled from behind by John and she hit the ground hard. She scrambled to free herself, hands desperately trying to find purchase among the rocks. She winced as John punched her in the side, and with an angry grimace Kat grabbed a fist sized rock and turning around, brought it down on his head.

She shoved the unconscious boy off her and staggered upright. _Worthless._

The unnamed boy came up to her again and this time kicked her in the stomach. Wrapping an arm around her stomach, she stumbled back, trying to give herself a moment to catch her breath. _If you ever need to incapacitate someone,_ _go for the kidney,_ the voice whispered menacingly. _Hurts like a bitch, usually for a couple days._

Taking a breath, Kat straightened, knees bent and fists raised. The boy swung for her head but she was ready this time. She ducked, all her practice paying off as she pivoted sideways and landed two hard punches to his side. With a choked groan, the boy fell to the ground, a surprised/pained expression on his face.

Kat spun around just in time to see Murphy lurching to his feet. He had tossed the metal piece to the side and instead was holding his homemade knife. He looked between his two buddies lying on the ground and bared his teeth at her. "Bring it on then, bitch," he spat.

Murphy slashed at her with the knife forcing her to quickly jump back. He pressed the advantage until there was nowhere for her to go. He stabbed downward again and this time Kat threw up her left arm knocking his wrist to the side as she brought her right arm back and punched him in the face.

He staggered back and Kat stepped forward to hit him again but he had already righted himself and caught her fist in his hand. With a gleam of triumph in his eyes, he pulled her forward and spun her around so that her back was pressed up against him, his knife to her throat. Kat stopped struggling as she felt the cold metal against her neck.

"I've got to hand it to you Hale," Murphy said, panting in her ear. "I definitely wasn't expecting any of this from you. 3 against 1 and you still almost managed to beat us."

Murphy pressed the knife into her neck and once again Kat felt the warm trickle of blood running down her body. Her hands automatically came up to hold onto his arm in order to prevent him from slitting her throat. "As my father always said, 'It's not over until I win'," Kat quoted, gritting her teeth.

"Murphy!" They heard someone shouting through the darkness of the forest. "What the hell is taking so long?"

Seeing her chance, Kat used this distraction and slammed her elbow back into Murphy's gut, twisting his wrist until he dropped the knife with a yelp. She have him a two handed shove, making him stumble back a few steps. "I learned how to use a knife when I was 8 years old," she informed him in a loud voice, her silver-gray eyes cold and unyielding. She have him another shove after every sentence "I learned how to fight…how to defend myself…how to kill! Did you really think you could _beat me?"_ Murphy tripped and fell, scrambling away from her awkwardly.

_It's your fault your mother's dead,_ the voice whispered in her ear, as she stalked forward. Her face contorted into a grimace, she viciously kicked Murphy in the side.

"If you _ever_ touch me again," Kat shouted, giving him another kick. "I'll kill you! Kill you!"

Kat gave a shriek of outrage as a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her away from Murphy's body. "Let go of me! Let go, I'm not finished with him! He needs to be taught a lesson!"

Kat kicked and struggled against the person holding her, but they were too strong. "Damn it!" A male voice swore in her ear. "Would you-? … Calm down!" Some part of her brain that wasn't completely irrational realized that the rough voice belonged to Bellamy Blake.

"No! I won't calm down!" She yelled, still trying to get free. "He needs to be punished!"

"And he has been!" Bellamy roared back. "You've made your point, they're done!" He shook her slightly, grabbing her chin and forcing her head to look straight. "Stop fighting for one second and look at them! They're finished. You've won, Kitten," he said in a softer voice.

For some reason, his voice broke through the rage filled fog that had taken over her brain. Bellamy cautiously set her down when he realized that she wasn't fighting him anymore. With a slight shake of her head, Kat blinked a couple of times before she noticed the four bodies lying on the floor. Wells and the John were lying very still with their eyes closed. Murphy and the unnamed boy were groaning, but at least they were moving.

Kat's eyes flickered between the four of them, her breathing becoming shallow and slightly blurry as her world titled. _That's my girl,_ the voice praised her smugly. _Like father like daughter, eh sweetheart?_

The hatred left her body so fast she felt weak and disoriented. She broke out into a cold sweat, shaking slightly as her stomach twisted unpleasantly. _I did this,_ she thought in horror. _I hurt these people. Oh god… I'm just like him!_

Feeling like she was going to either faint, vomit or a combination of both, Kat stumbled away from the scene.

"Hey," Bellamy called after her, frowning. "Where are you going?"

"Just – just leave me alone!" Kat called back in a choked voice. She broke out into a run.

_That's my girl,_ the voice echoed through the trees. Eyes wide and heart pounding through her chest, Kat imagined she saw his blue eyes staring at her from the darkness; she let out a small whimper and abruptly changed directions. She heard footsteps coming up from behind her and picked up her speed. "I'm not like you!" She shouted to him. "I didn't want to hurt them, but they – they hurt me first! I didn't want to…. I swear!"

She let out a scream as he tackled her from behind and she automatically flailed, hitting him with her fists. "Ow, fucking hell-" he growled. "Would you stop hitting me, Kitten?"

Kitten? Kat opened her eyes to see Bellamy staring down at her, an angry, exasperated look on his face. He had straddled her hips and grabbed her arms, pinning her to the floor. Her eyes clenched shut again, feeling lightheaded. "Blake –" She choked out. "Get off my chest – I can't breathe!" Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, her whole body pounding in time with her heartbeat. "Oh god," she gasped, frantically shaking her head. "I – I can't-"

Bellamy frowned down at her. "What? I'm not on your chest-" Realization dawned in his eyes. "You're having a panic attack, Kat! You need to relax, okay, take deep breaths!"

She shook her head frantically. "I'm not like him. I didn't want to hurt them!"

"I know you're not," Bellamy assured her in a calming voice, though he had no idea what she was talking about. "Think of something else, Katerina, you need to snap out of this!"

With her eyes shut, she didn't see Bellamy frantically looking around as if hoping someone would step out between the trees and help them. She didn't see him looking down at her with a worried expression on his face as her own grew alarmingly pale. And she sure as hell didn't see him mutter, "Fuck it," and with a determined expression on his face, crash his lips to hers.

Kat's eyes flew open again and for three whole seconds she lay there in shock before it sunk in. With a noise of shock and outrage she wrenched her head to the side, breaking their connection. "What the hell are you doing?" She glared up at him, her eyes almost crossing because of how close his face was.

Bellamy's brown eyes blinked down at her before he sat back on her hips. A wide grin crossed his face as he looked down at her. "Ending your panic attack."

Kat belatedly realized that although her heart was still pounding, her breathing came easier. "I was not having a panic attack," she denied immediately.

"Yes you were. My sister used to get them when she was younger, I know all the signs."

"Yeah? So you molested her too?"

"Ugh, no," he said with a disgusted look on his face. "You have to think of something else. When I _kissed_ you, you forgot about your panic," he shrugged.

The queasy feeling returned to her stomach as he reminded her of what had happened. "Can you get off me now?" She asked, looking anywhere but at him.

"What, I don't get a thank you for helping you out? Girls don't usually react this way when I kiss them."

"I don't usually thank people who assault me with their face. If I ever want you to kiss me, I'll be sure to let you know," she snapped sarcastically. "Now let me up Blake. I just – I want to be alone."

Bellamy stared down at her for another second before getting up and allowing her to stand up again. She started to walk away but stopped, looking back at him with a hesitant expression on her face. "Can… Can you make sure they're okay?" She waited until he nodded before walking away again. Once she was out of his line of sight she broke into a run.

She fled from what had just happened. Fled from her past. But most importantly, she fled from herself.

**So there it is! Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? As always, review please :)**


	3. Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from The 100, only my OC's.

**Author's Note****: Sorry for any confusion earlier, I tried to upload this chapter for some reason but something went very wrong. Thanks to greaserslady for bringing it to my attention! Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed my story, it means the world :) I hope you like this chapter as well, and don't forget to review!**

* * *

Kat didn't know where she was running to, but between her run this morning and this one, she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to walk tomorrow. Her muscles felt tight and sore; her breath was coming out in heavy pants and sweat mixed with the dried blood on her face. Her stomach gave an alarming lurch and she vomited up whatever was left, hands on her knees. After a few more dry heaves, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and continued on.

She ran until she came to a small stream running through the woods and she staggered to a stop, dropping down to her knees and cupping her hands together to take a drink, not caring that the water might be contaminated. Her only goal was to rinse the disgusting taste out of her mouth.

Eventually, her breathing calmed and she looked down at her reflection. Her eyes widened in shock and horror. Rivulets of blood had streamed down her face from the cut in her hairline, some of it drying in her hair. She shifted closer to the stream to see how deep the cut was and winced in pain. Now that the adrenaline had faded, she hurt – _everywhere._

Besides the sharp pain in her head from the metal piece, her head was throbbing and fuzzy from Murphy's backhand, she could tell from the pain in her stomach that she was going to bruise terribly, her knuckles were split and slightly bruised, and her palms were skinned from falling in the rocks.

Not to mention the thin cut running across her neck that, thankfully, wasn't too deep, though it did bleed a lot. In fact, it was still bleeding.

With another wince Kat forced herself to stretch and move. Even though she was in pain, this was nothing really. She has had so much worse then this.

Lost in her thoughts, Kat gently and carefully scrubbed the blood from her skin and hair. The cut on her neck was shallow and would probably be alright if she just covered it with a bandage. She looked around and ended up just ripping about three inches from the bottom of her shirt. A little bit of her stomach showed, but she didn't think it would get too cold. She tied the bandage around her neck carefully and twisted it around so the tie wasn't showing. The cut on her head however, was deeper. If she were on the Ark, she would probably have to get stitches. Oh well. As long as it had stopped bleeding she didn't care if it scarred.

She carefully cleaned it and then dunked her entire head in the water to rinse the blood out of her hair. After brushing through it with her fingers and tying it into a quick braid to keep it out of her cut, she sighed and with another wince, slowly stood and looked around. She had no idea where she was but she also had no desire to go back to camp. She felt….dirty. Contaminated. On the edge of a nervous breakdown. She not in a good place.

With a noise of annoyance, Kat looked down and realized that most of the front of her shirt was covered in blood. She debated for half a second, then shrugged and stripped out of her jacket, tossing it on the ground before pulling her shirt over her head.

She was just about to bend over to clean her shirt in the stream when she heard a polite cough and someone say, "…Hello."

With a startled shriek, Kat jerked upright, losing her footing in her surprise and falling on her ass in the stream. Clutching her shirt to her chest, Kat staggered to her feet, looking around wildly for the owner of the voice. "What the fuck- who's there? Where are you?"

"Up here."

With wild eyes, Kat looked up into the trees and finally spotted a boy sitting up in the lower branches of a tall tree, his back resting against the trunk and legs dangling on either side. He had short, wavy dirty blonde hair, a crooked smile and a twinkle in his blue eyes as he looked down at her.

"What is wrong with you?" Kat shouted indignantly, glaring up at him before dropping her shirt and turning her back to put her jacket back on, zipping it up to cover herself. "Why didn't you say anything _before_ I took my shirt off?"

"I was here first! How was I supposed to know you were going to come running through here and start stripping? Besides," his grin widened as he shrugged. "… I'm a guy."

"That's still creepy," Kat told him with narrowed eyes. "Next time warn someone when you're planning on sitting in a tree and spying on people, okay?" Muttering under her breath, Kat bent over once again and started to scrub the blood from her shirt.

It was silent for a few moments. "So why do you look like someone just tried to murder you?"

"I suppose cause someone just did."

"But they didn't succeed…" He looked down at her with a speculative look in his eyes. "Did you kill them?"

Her head snapped up. "What?" She asked, shocked.

"You're the Hale girl. Everyone says you killed the Captain of the Guard, so I just drew the logical conclusion and-"

"So because I murder one person I automatically turn into a serial killer?" She asked, wringing out her shirt and standing up again.

The boy shrugged. "Crazier things have happened. For instance, I've been sitting in a tree for the past three hours, staring at the moon."

Kat's eyebrow rose. "How is you sitting in a tree crazier then me turning into a serial killer?"

"Why don't you come up here and find out?" He asked, a slight challenge in his voice. "The sun should be coming up soon." Kat thought about it for a moment. _Eh, what the hell. It's not like I'm going to be getting any sleep tonight anyway._

Kat tossed her shirt on her shoulder and slowly walked over to the tree, jumping up to test the nearest branches weight. It held pretty well so she pulled herself up onto it and stood up, holding onto the trunk for balance. She looked down at the boy next to her, holding his eyes for a minute before grinning slightly and slowly and carefully made her way up to the top of the tree, stopping just before the branches that would break if she sat on them. After tossing her shirt over one of the branches next to her to dry, she gently lowered herself down so that she was straddling the branch. She backed up until her back was resting against the trunk and looked up into the night sky.

She heard him climbing up the tree, but didn't look over as he settled onto the branch next to her. "You're right…" She said softly, staring up at the moon and stars. "This is pretty crazy."

Kat could almost feel him grinning. "You don't remember me, do you?"

Without moving her head from the trunk, she turned her head to frown at him. "Should I?"

"I'm Leo Sage."

Still frowning, Kat repeated the name over in her head until it finally clicked. An image of a little boy with floppy blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes popped in her head. "Leonidas!" Kat snapped her fingers in recognition.

"Ugh, please don't call me that," he interrupted, making a face.

"You were the boy who nicked Felicity Snyder's favorite stuffed animal when we were 7!" She continued, chuckling under her breath at the memory. "I'll never forget the temper tantrum she threw when she realized it was missing. Even at 7 that girl was already a bitch."

Leo chuckled along with her. "Yeah, she was."

Her smile faded and she searched his face. "You gave it to me. Why?"

He turned his head to look back up at the sky. "I don't know. You weren't like the other kids in my classes. You almost never talked and you seemed… almost scared."

Not that she would tell him this, but back then she was scared. She was scared for the first 13 years of her life. There had been some good parts when her mother was alive – she could vaguely remember her mother telling her stories before she went to bed, but she couldn't picture her mother, only her short black hair and wide smile. It was extremely frustrating. And then when her mother died, her fear grew. She withdrew inside herself and didn't really talk to anyone in her classes.

"So you did it because you pitied me."

"In a way, I suppose," he said slowly, considering what she said. "I remember seeing you and feeling sad. I just wanted to make you smile."

That's why she can remember the day Leo gave her the stuffed animal so clearly. "You know, that was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me."

He was silent for a moment and she refused to look over at whatever look was on his face. "I'm glad I was the one to do it then," he said softly.

Kat sighed as silence descended between them. She let her mind drift back to what happened earlier. How had everything gotten so fucked so quickly? Just this morning she was happily frolicking through the newly discovered forest and now she was running from both herself and her worst fears. She had worked so hard to keep the darkest parts of herself locked up and hidden, worked so hard to be different from him. Obviously, she still had some severe issues that she needed to work on.

Her head flopped back against the tree and she stared up at the full moon, marveling at how it lit up the forest in that whitish light. It made her problems seem so… insignificant.

So she got into a fight on her first night here. So what? It wasn't her fault after all. Murphy and his goons were the one holding down Wells and forcing his wristband off against his will. Though she didn't believe for one second that Murphy came up with the idea on his own. This had Blake written all over it, a sort of payback for what had happened at the campfire.

She just tried to help Wells. And then when they started to come after her, she was just defending herself. With a jolt, she realized that she had her switchblade in her boot the whole time and it didn't cross her mind once! That has to be good, right? If she had really wanted to hurt them, she would have remembered that, wouldn't she? That's the difference… she realized. Between herself and _him_. She only hurt people in order to defend herself. She was a survivor, after all. The important thing – she didn't go out of her way to hurt people for no reason.

Feeling a teensy bit better, Kat shifted her thinking to the future. Would they try to come after her again, or would they leave her alone knowing that she could take care of herself? In the end, she decided that she better be prepared for anything.

With a grim smile, Kat briefly contemplated what would happen if she simply embraced her dark side. She really didn't expect her problems and issues to go away over night, if ever. Maybe it would be better if everyone thought she was slightly unhinged. There were still murderers and rapists back at camp, after all.

"Was Murphy the one who hurt you?" Leo broke the silence and she turned to look at him. His eyes traced the cut on the top of her head and neck.

"How did you know?" Kat asked, curious.

Leo shrugged. "He threatened you in front of the whole group earlier today. I drew the logical conclusion."

"Yeah, it was him and two of his other goons. They removed Wells' wristband without his permission and I was trying to help him out."

"By yourself?" Leo asked, surprise all over his face.

She sent him a hard look, irritation coloring her voice. "I'm not one of those pathetic girls that needs to be saved by some dashing hero." To her extreme annoyance, Blake flashed through her mind. She shook her head angrily and continued, "And I'm sure as hell not the same person I was when I was 7."

"No," he murmured softly, staring at her thoughtfully. He didn't seem fazed by her angry tone. "No, you're definitely not."

She rolled her eyes and looked away and what she saw made her anger and frustration melt away instantly. "Look," she breathed.

The moon had started to set and they both watched with fascination and a sense of awe as the sun rose. She saw the light from the sun, a gorgeous yellow-orange, before she actually saw the sun. She didn't know how long she sat there, marveling at the sight. It rose steadily in the clear blue sky until it was shining on her face, until she could see the golden glow through her closed eyelids. Words couldn't begin to describe the beauty as she watched her first sunrise ever.

Her vision was going blurry and her throat felt tight. Mortified, Kat cleared her throat loudly. She blamed it on the fact that she just had a nightmare of a night. There was no way she was about to cry over a sunrise. _Suck it up Hale,_ she thought with a clenched jaw.

"We should go," Kat blurted out suddenly, startling a dozing Leo. She pretended not to notice as he quickly grabbed onto his branch to keep from falling over. "Clarke and the others might be back with some food, and I don't want some moron eating my share."

Without waiting for his reply, she snatched her now dry and blood-free shirt and stood up to make her way back down the branches. Almost immediately the world tilted dangerously and Leo's arm shot out to grab an elbow to steady her.

"Whoa there," Leo said, frowning at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

Kat blinked a couple of times until her vision cleared and realized that she was holding the tree in a death grip. "Yeah," she said, tentatively letting go of the tree. "It was probably just because I lost a bit of blood."

"Not to mention the fact that you haven't eaten or slept in over 24 hours," Leo added, slowly letting go of her, though he still looked ready to step in if need be. "You should also take care of that cut, it looks pretty nasty."

"How?" Kat asked, her voice bordering on sarcastic. "We were sent here without a doctor. It probably needs stitches, but the best I can do right now is keep it clean. Now come on, I'll be fine."

"If you say so," Leo said lightly, following her down the tree. Kat rolled her eyes when she noticed that he stayed close to her just in case she lost her balance, but she didn't say anything. Her body was feeling a little weak, not to mention sore.

When she made it to the bottom she told him to turn around so she could put her shirt back on. She shrugged out of her jacket and slipped her shirt on. She was just pulling it down when Leo made a strangled noise of disgust and grabbed the edge of her shirt, pulling it up to look at her stomach.

"Hey!" Kat cried indignantly, slapping his hands away. "Keep your hands to yourself, Leonidas. You were supposed to turn around, would you stop trying to see me half naked?"

He ignored her. "Have you looked at your stomach? The entire thing is one big bruise!"

She pulled the edge of her shirt up slightly and looked down. He was right, but she had been expecting this. She could almost see the laces imprint from that idiots shoe – from left to right the entire thing was a nasty mixture of yellow, green and purple bruise, and was pretty sore.

"Did Murphy do this?" Kat was mystified at the anger in his voice. She was the one with the bruise, not him!

"What does it-"

"What self-respecting guy would hit a girl at all, let alone hard enough to cause this kind of damage! It's disgusting, it's-"

"-not a big deal," Kat said firmly, giving him a strange look. "I'm not talking about this anymore. Either stay here or come with me, I don't care, but I'm heading back now." She stomped off, leaving him and his annoying questions behind.

"Hey Kat," he called after her.

"What?" she snapped, turning around to look at him with narrowed eyes.

A reluctantly amused expression was on his face. "Camp is back this way," he told her, pointing in the complete opposite direction from where she was walking. She stood still for a moment, a muscle ticking in her jaw, before stomping back the way she came.

"I knew that," she muttered childishly under her breath as she past him. She knew he was grinning but thankfully he kept his mouth shut and followed her quietly.

They were closer to camp then she thought; they had only been walking for five minutes before she heard the sound of almost 100 teenagers laughing and yelling except this time, it didn't sound like they were celebrating. Kat frowned as she detected the slightly manic edge to the sound. Her eyes widened when they came close enough to see the source of all the noise.

"Chaos," Leo said bitterly, looking around. "'Whatever the hell we want'? What a fucking joke. Someone's going to end up getting killed."

Kat had to admit he might be right, although some people seemed to be enjoying their newfound freedom. Everywhere she looked people had coupled off together and were making out in the grass. She hastily avoided her eyes, feeling like she was intruding.

As they continued walking they also passed some kids chasing and pushing each other as they jeered and laughed, fighting over spare clothes. Other kids were sitting around and some were even playing makeshift drums. Kat was vaguely aware that Leo was saying something, but she had just caught sight of Wells walking towards the drop ship so she stopped listening.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you later okay?" She interrupted him, and then without waiting for his answer she jogged off.

"Wells!" She called. "Hey Wells!" He stopped and looked around when he heard his name, and Kat could have sworn she saw a bit of relief on his face when he saw her.

"Are you okay?" They both asked at the same time, then grinned.

"You go first," Kat said.

"I'm fine, just a little bump on the head." She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could he cut her off. "Wait, before you say anything I just want to tell you, that even though it was extremely stupid of you to try and take on three guys who are bigger then you," he held up a hand as her face turned furious, "it was also very brave of you to try and help me. So thank you."

"Like something a friend would do?" Kat asked with a teasing grin, though there was a small part of her that was very anxious to here his answer. He nodded, a small smile on his face. "Well… your welcome. And by the way, I took on three guys and _kicked ass_." She didn't mention the fact that Blake might have stopped her from doing something worse.

"Yeah, and you got some battle wounds to prove it. That looks pretty nasty," he gestured to her cut.

"It's nothing," Kat said, waving him off. She looked down at the bundle of clothes and the extra pair of shoes he was holding. "Where did you get those?"

"Yeah man, where'd you get the clothes?" The looked around to see a boy with dark hair striding towards them from the drop ship.

Wells looked between the two of them before looking at Kat and answering. "I buried the two kids who died during the landing."

Kat looked at him in surprise, suddenly feeling bad. "Oh damn, you shouldn't have had to do that by yourself-"

"It's okay," he reassured her.

"Smart," the boy acknowledged.

Kat narrowed her eyes at him. "Is there any reason you're still standing here?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, actually. I'll take these off your hands," the boy moved forward, reaching for the clothes. Kat tensed, ready to step in if this turned ugly. "There's always a murder-"

"We share based on need," Wells said sharply, holding the clothes tighter to his body. "Just like back home."

"You don't get it do you, Chancellor." Kat had to struggle not to roll her eyes as she recognized the voice. Just perfect. Any hope of diffusing this situation disappeared the moment he opened his mouth.

Kat turned to see him coming out from the drop ship and did a double take. She briefly took in the girl sauntering out behind him before turning back to a _very_ _shirtless_ Blake. Holy damn. Did it just get hotter out here?

His hair was no longer slicked back; it flopped over his forehead, giving him a more wild, dangerous appearance. Her eyes trailed slowly from his satisfied smirk, to his broad shoulders and his bulging biceps. Her gaze hungrily continued to his perfectly chiseled chest and six-pack abs, before moving lower to where two 'fuck-me' lines disappeared into his pants, lines that she wanted to trace with her tongue–

Blake shifted slightly and Kat broke off her train of thought looking away with wide, horrified eyes. Her whole body was flushed, particularly in her lower stomach, her palms were tingling and her heart – her eyes widened even further at the realization – was pounding in time with the pulsing she had _down there._

Kat had to lock her knees to help fight the overwhelming urge to jump him, possibly tackle him to the ground and hold him there in a similar position that he had her in last night, except this time she'd be on top controlling the situation so she could kiss him properly –

She bit the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood. _What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm being betrayed by my own body! Get it together, Hale! This is the same asshole that's trying to take control of the group for his own bat shit crazy plan! The fight last night was __**his**__ fault!_

Blinking rapidly and hoping that her few seconds of a brain lapse wasn't too noticeable, Kat made a conscious effort to rejoin the conversation. She looked up and made the very serious mistake of locking eyes with Blake. Was she imaging the interested glint in his intense brown eyes? Or the knowing yet slightly taunting smirk playing around the edges of his lips? Kat's face grew even warmer, but she refused to admit defeat and look away.

He was the one who broke their stare down. Wells leaned over to her as Blake made a show of kissing the unknown girl (was it necessary to show your entire stomach?) who then flounced off happily. He whispered with a humorless smile, "Careful there Kat. You've got a bit of drool on your chin."

"Shut up," she snapped. She waited for him to move away before quickly wiping her chin just in case he was telling the truth. Which he wasn't. _Dick._

"This is home now," Blake said once his little hoe had left. He strode forward and Kat forced her gaze to remain on his face. _Damn it Hale, control yourself!_ Blake swiped a shirt from Wells' grip and the other boy put out a hand to hold Wells back as he started forward. "No, no, no, Atom, hold up. You want it back? Take it."

The tension grew as Wells and Blake stared each other down. For one heart stopping moment she thought Wells was going to take him up on his offer. Instead, he threw the clothes behind him, where kids immediately rushed to claim their share.

"Is this what you want?" Wells asked, as Blake started to put on his new shirt. Kat bit her lip at the rush of bitter disappointment and relief she felt. At least now she might be able to concentrate. "Chaos?"

"What's wrong with a little chaos?"

"Seriously?" Kat choked out a sarcastic laugh. His gaze swung to look at her, briefly taking in the cut on the top of her head and her neck. "You're telling a bunch of teenage criminals who have just recently been locked up that they can do whatever they want! Chaos isn't what these kids need, they need structure – "

"Like they had back up on the Ark?" He interrupted angrily. "Those rules and expectations are what got them into trouble in the first place-"

"Of course not! But we can't just let them run wild either, somebody is going to end up getting hurt-"

As if to emphasize her point, everyone froze as a girl suddenly let out a piercing scream. Kat hurried to follow Wells down the hill where none other than Murphy was holding a girl over a small fire.

"Are you kidding me?" Kat spat, striding forward. She felt an immense satisfaction at the black eye he was currently sporting. She hoped it hurt like a bitch. "Did you not learn anything last night, shit-for-brains? Put the girl down, or I'll give you another black eye!"

Murphy looked furious that she told everyone that she had given him the black eye, but all he did was send her a glare before turning back to Blake. "Bellamy! Check it out, we want the Ark to think that the ground is killing us right? Figured it would look better if we suffered a little bit first-"

He was cut off as Wells suddenly leaped forward, pulling Murphy off the girl and sending him sprawling in the dirt. Wells turned to Blake as the girl scampered away. "You can stop this!"

"Stop this?" Blake repeated, glancing around with an annoyingly superior air. "I'm just getting started."

"Look out!" Kat tried to warn Wells as Murphy sprang off the ground, punching him hard in the jaw and sending him staggering backward.

She sprang forward to help as Murphy followed up with an uppercut to Wells' stomach and another blow to his shoulder, but was held back by a strong arm around the waist. She ignored the flare of pain from her stomach bruise and whipped around furiously to see that it was Blake holding her from a fight, yet again. "What are you doing, get the fuck off of me!" She cried, bringing her elbow back hard into his stomach.

His breath whooshed out of him and she started forward again as his grip loosened. Infuriatingly, she had almost escaped when he snatched her wrist and yanked her back. She winced as he brought her right arm back in a painful position, holding her close to him so she couldn't elbow him again. "Damn it Blake, stop this!" She yelled angrily as she watched Murphy tackle Wells to the ground. The two began rolling around in the dirt, throwing punches at whatever body parts they could find.

"Why should I?" He murmured in her ear, disturbingly close. "Look at them, Kitten." Her gaze reluctantly took in the cheering and chanting crowd, where only a few people looked uncertain. For a brief moment her gaze locked with Leo, who was watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. She looked away as Blake started speaking again. "They love this. There's something exhilarating about it, isn't there?"

"No," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't like to watch people getting hurt-"

"Now, we both know that's not true, don't we?" He purred, so close that his lips grazed the outside of her ear. She fought a shiver while fury and shame ran through her as she was once again reminded of last night. She wanted to argue, to prove to him that she wasn't like that but she couldn't find the words. Because deep down, in the darkest parts of herself, she had liked teaching those boys a lesson.

They were both interrupted as Wells delivered a series of punches to Murphy's face before staggering upright again, his eyes burning in anger and his breath coming out in pants. He took a couple of steps towards her and Blake, and she almost smirked when she felt Blake tense up behind her. Good. She was glad to know he was slightly afraid of something.

"Don't you see you can't control this?" Wells panted, making yet another attempt to get through Blake's idiotic, stubborn head.

"You're dead," Murphy growled, grabbing his knife and lurching to his feet.

"Wait," Blake interrupted, handing Kat over to Atom and moving to intervene. For a half a second Kat actually believed that he was going to put a stop to the fight. Then she was reminded of what a jackass he is as he held up another knife and said, "Fair fight."

Blake dropped the knife on the floor and walked back over to her, ignoring the furious glare she sent him. Wells looked from Murphy, to the knife, to Blake and finally she settled on her. She hoped he saw the hopeless yet supportive nod that she gave him. With a resigned yet determined look, he nodded back and bent to pick up the knife.

They circled each other, Murphy feinting a few times before Wells lunged. She winced as Murphy easily sidestepped and cut him on the arm. Kat wanted nothing more then to step in and help Wells, she was pretty sure she could break away from Atom's grip, but she saw the determination on Wells' face and she didn't want to distract him by getting in the way.

"This is for my father!" Murphy shouted, slashing at Wells who blocked the blow with his forearm and performed a complicated maneuver that spun Murphy around so that Wells could easily press a knife to his throat. Kat's eyebrows rose in admiration. He was going to have to teach her that move.

"Wells!" A voice snapped, and Kat looked over to see Clarke and the others striding out of the forest, grim expressions on their faces. Kat shrugged out of Atom's grip, and he didn't protest. "Let him go," Clarke cried in a disgusted and extremely judgmental tone that sent a rush or irritation through Kat. Did she think that Wells wanted to fight Murphy? She just came in at the end of the fight, she didn't see Wells trying to protect the girl that Murphy was trying to hurt. Who does she think she is?

Wells shoved Murphy away and this time Blake really did step in when Murphy flew at him again. "Hey, enough! Murphy!"

Almost immediately Blake let him go when he saw Octavia limping down the hill. "Octavia!" He called, rushing to her side and helping her down. "Are you alright? Where's the food?" He asked, looking around at the others.

Kat looked around, just realizing they were all empty handed. She frowned. Something wasn't right.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather," Finn said in a tired voice.

"What the hell happened out there?"

"We were attacked," Clarke said, looking extremely distressed.

"Attacked?" Well repeated. "By what?"

"Not what," Finn spoke up again. "Who. Turns out when the last man from the ground died on the Ark… he wasn't the last man." Kat's breath caught as the full implication of what they were saying sunk in. There were survivors. Somehow, people had managed to survive the nuclear war and all the radiation that followed. That meant… the Earth was definitely survivable. They weren't going to die!

At least… not by radiation.

"It's true," Clarke said, looking around. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here. Survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive." _Stop stealing my thoughts Blondie._ "Radiation won't kill us."

"Bad news is, the grounders will," Finn finished, looking uncharacteristically serious.

Kat's frown deepened, looking at their expressions. She looked between them, and then it clicked. "Hold on," She said loudly, striding forward. "Weren't there five of you when you guys left?"

"Yeah, where's the kid with the goggles?" Wells asked.

"Jasper was hit," Clarke answered, looking up at him briefly. "They took him," her voice wavered and she broke eye contact looking down again, but she was momentarily distracted. "Where's your wristband?" Clarke asked, her snappy, bossy tone coming back in full force. "As a matter of fact, what the hell happened when we were gone?" Her eyes flickered between Murphy's black and eye and Kat's cut.

"Ask him," Wells nodded at Blake angrily. Blake shifted at the sudden attention, and Kat saw him glance at Octavia uneasily.

"How many wristbands?" Clarke snapped.

"24 and counting," Murphy said smugly.

"You idiots," Clarke whispered. For once, Kat agreed with her. "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here! They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us."

Kat felt a grudging admiration for the passion and the strength behind her words as she spoke to the whole group. She had to know she was fighting a losing battle though. Blake had already won most of them over.

Speaking of, for a second he looked indecisive, but Kat knew that he wouldn't let Clarke have the last word. That would undermine the efforts that he had already made to earn their respect. "We're stronger then you think. Don't listen to her, she's one of the privileged! If they come down, she'll have it good! How many of you can say the same?" He asked, walking over and looking up at the crowd that had gathered around. "We can take care of ourselves! That wristband on your arm… it makes you a prisoner. We are _not _prisoners, anymore. They say they'll forgive your crimes! I say, you're _not criminals_! You're fighters! Survivors!" Kat shifted uneasily at this proclamation. She had called herself that multiple times and didn't like being lumped in with the rest of them. "The grounders should worry about us!"

Kat watched the disgust and disappoint flicker over Clarke's face when the crowd answered Blake's speech with more cheers and shouts of triumph.

Clarke shook her head slightly before turning to Kat, who blinked in surprise. "Come with me," she said shortly. "You haven't cleaned that cut properly." Kat watched her walk away, debated not listening to her out of spite, than decided that would be stupid and childish. Besides, she didn't really want to witness Leader Blake in action anymore.

She jogged to catch up with Clarke and the Asian guy as they strode away. "What do we do now?" he asked Clarke.

"Now we go after Jasper," she said in a determined voice. Kat felt like saying 'Dun, dun, dunnn!' in her head in response to the overly dramatic statement, but chose to keep her mouth shut as she followed them back towards the drop ship. "Sit," Clarke commanded, pointing to a log. "Monty, go get some supplies together. Clean rags, bandages, anything we can use as a weapon."

Kat crossed her arms as she sat on the log. "What are you some kind of teenage doctor or something?"

"No," Clarke said, still using that short, annoyed tone. She found a clean rag and dunked it in a clever makeshift bucket that someone had made to gather the rain from last night. "But my mother works in the medical bay up on the Ark and she was training me."

Kat fell silent, frowning. She had been in and out of the medical bay so many times during her childhood that she had probably met her mother. Clarke…. What was her last name? G something. Graham? No… Griffin! That was it. Clarke Griffin! That must mean her mother was…

"Abby Griffin," she said out loud. "That's your mother."

"Yes. Now tilt your head to the side and stay still, this might hurt a bit." Kat winced as Clarke began gently cleaning the cut on her forehead, periodically flushing it with water. "This is pretty deep. If we had any supplies I would probably have to stitch it up."

"It's no big deal."

"So what happened?"

Kat sighed. "Blake made a power move and had Murphy and the rest of the goon squad hold Wells down and forcibly remove his wristband. I was just trying to help him out and got some minor cuts for my troubles."

"Cuts?" Clarke repeated, pulling back with a frown. Her eyes flickering down to the makeshift bandage she had wrapped around her neck and carefully tilted Kat's head back to pull it down. She shook her head. "This one isn't as deep, and should be fine if you keep it covered. You're probably going to scar though."

A bitter smile twisted Kat's lips as she put the bandage back in place. "Add it to the collection," she muttered drily. "Your mother was my doctor you know. I liked her. She really knew what she was doing."

"I know," Clarke said, avoiding her gaze as she flushed Kat's head wound one more time. "I used to over hear her talking about you with my dad sometimes, before she decided to go to the Chancellor about your father-"

"What." Kat's voice was flat and cold. Surely she had to have heard wrong. Clarke couldn't mean…. Kat's entire body tensed and there was a strange buzzing sound in her ears.

Clarke gave her a confused, uncertain look. "I thought you knew. My mother treated your bruises, cuts, broken bones and burns for years, Kat. She suspected it was your father for a long time, but you never told her definitively, you always had excuses. And then when I saw him hit you the night of one of the annual parties and I-" She stammered when she saw the fury in Kat's eyes. "I told her and she decided to go to the Chancellor."

Kat remembered that night very well. She had snuck out to the party against her father's orders, and when him and the rest of his guards broke it up, he was furious that he found her there. He had pulled her to the side and was so angry that he struck her in what he thought was an empty corridor. Kat had thought that she heard something, but her father was too angry to notice.

"It was you," Kat choked out, so overwhelmed with shock and anger that she could barely speak. She knocked Clarke's hand aside and lurched to her feet. "You – you and your mother – I can't believe – you ruined everything!" She shouted, taking a step forward. "Do you even know what you did? This was all your _fault_!" She punctuated this last word with a shove that sent Clarke staggering backwards a few steps.

A little bit of anger was beginning to mix in with Clarke's confusion. "What are you talking about? We were trying to do the right thing!"

"The right thing?" Kat repeated, her voice so high it sounded a bit deranged. "You – you can't even begin to comprehend the consequences of what you and your mother did-"

"We saved you!" Clarke interrupted, taking a step forward to get in Kat's face. The very small part of Kat that wasn't completely possessed by rage, admired the fact that Clarke wasn't afraid of her, that she wasn't backing down. Kat knew that not many girls would stand up to her like this. "Your father was beating you, Kat, for who knows how long-"

"_I_ do!" Kat was dimly aware that their shouting was going to attract a crowd, but she was beyond caring. "I know exactly how long-"

"Then what the hell is your problem?" Clarke asked, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. "My mother and I helped you by going to the Chancellor, we did the right thing! He was going to be floated for his crimes, but then you went and killed him – "

Kat snapped. She didn't know if it was from sleep deprivation, blood loss, the pounding in her head, or the myriad of emotions that she had felt the past two days, but she had already been teetering on the edge, and that comment just tipped her past the breaking point.

Kat's vision literally turned red as she lunged for Clarke, a snarl erupting from her throat. She briefly caught sight of Clarke's shocked wide eyes before a strong arm caught her around the waist. Although she would never admit it out loud, Kat knew who it was before she even looked up. She could already identify his musky, slightly woodsy man smell. At this point though, she was past caring.

"You stupid, pretentious bitch!" She yelled, still struggling against the person holding her. "Are you fucking kidding me? While you and your mother were patting yourselves on the back thinking that you _"saved me"_ my father was drinking himself into oblivion because he got fired and might be executed! He tried to kill me!" She was shaking, too caught up in memories full of fear and pain to register the horror and regret in Clarke's eyes. "All you did was turn me into a murderer and get me locked up! So from now on, stay the fuck out of other people's business!"

Kat pushed against the arm holding her. "And _damn it_, Blake, you really need to stop interfering in all my fights! Just let me go!"

"Sorry Kitten, I can't do that until you've calmed down." His voice was irritatingly amused, but she was pleased to note that he sounded out of breath from trying to contain her. "As much as I would love to see what is sure to be a very entertaining catfight, unfortunately Clarke is the closest thing we've got to a doctor and we can't afford to have you beat the shit out of her."

With a frustrated noise, Kat stopped struggling, though her chest was still rising and falling rapidly.

"Kat," Clarke said starting forward, a slightly distressed look on her face. "I'm so – "

"Save it, Blondie," Kat cut her off bitterly. "Whatever you have to say I'm really not in the mood to hear right now."

Clarke face hardened and with a glance at Blake, she walked off, following Monty onto the drop ship.

Even in her current state, Kat was hyper aware of the fact that the front of Blake's body was pressed against her back, his arm still hooked around her stomach. At some point during Kat's shouting match, their breathing had synced. Unable to deal with or even comprehend the hot, swooping sensation in her stomach, Kat half stepped out of his embrace and turned around to snap at him.

Her mouth opened, but the words wouldn't come. He was close, too close – she wished she could read the expression on his face –

"Kat?" She jerked back another step and turned gratefully to Leo who was looking between Blake and her with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty. "Can I talk to you?"

"Leo, hey. Uh, yeah sure." she said and without looking at Blake she began to move towards Leo but was stopped when Blake grabbed her arm. Kat looked up at him in surprise to see him giving Leo a thorough once over with narrowed eyes.

After a moment he turned back to her, a smirk on his face. "I'll be over there helping Octavia with her leg. Try not to get in a fight for five minutes will you?"

Blake's smirk widened when he saw he her flush red with anger, but he turned and left her sputtering after him indignantly. She watched him walk away muttering darkly under her breath. She did _not_ get in that many fights! There was the one last night and this one, though she had tried to jump in and help Wells earlier… Kat frowned. Almost three fights in two days? What was wrong with her? She usually prided herself on not losing her temper, but now it seemed she snapped at the littlest thing. Granted, finding out that Clarke and her mother had a hand in what happened on That Night was pretty bad, but still.

She took two deep breaths, forcing the anger to fade away from her body. Man, she really needed to get a better grip on herself.

"Kat?" She jumped, forgetting that Leo was still standing there. She forced a grin on her face as Leo led the way to a log that was out of eavesdropping distance. "You looked uncomfortable, so I thought I'd come save you."

Kat rolled her eyes at his teasing grin. "I don't need saving, remember?"

"Oh yes, how could I forget?" He chuckled, though it faded quickly. He hesitated slightly before saying, "I saw what happened… you okay?"

"I don't know," Kat replied truthfully, surprising them both. She looked down and began picking at her cuticles, unable to see the pity in his eyes. "I never knew who turned my father in, but he was under the impression that it was me."

He was silent for so long that Kat had to look up to see what he was doing. She was surprised at the amount of guilt in his eyes. "Leo, what – "

"I feel like I should have known! We were in classes together when we were younger and I knew that you seemed scared, but I didn't realize that it was because of your father – "

"Ok, stop." Kat held up a hand, frowning. "I got really good at hiding the evidence, and besides, we weren't even really friends. I don't understand why you're feeling guilty."

Hurt flashed across his face before he quickly covered it with a sad smile. "You didn't consider us friends?"

"I- uh," she stammered, thrown by his question. "Honestly? No. I mean, you did give me that stuffed animal and you sat with me a lunch sometimes, but we never… hung out. Or even talked that much."

"You're right, though in self defense, you were a very hard person to become friends with." He smiled to show that he didn't mean any offense. "Well, how about now then? Can we be friends?"

Kat searched his face, looking at his twinkling blue eyes and his wide, earnest smile. He seemed too good to be her friend. She wanted to explain to him that she was broken, her heart had been stabbed, crushed and then hardened into stone so she wouldn't be hurt anymore. She wanted to explain to him that she would probably ruin him. But then there was a selfish part of her that wanted to have a friend, if only because she had never had one before.

"Okay," she nodded slowly. "Sure. I'm just warning you, I've never had any friends. I wouldn't know how to be one and I'll probably suck at it."

Kat looked away from his happy grin and watched with narrowed eyes as she saw Wells follow Monty and Clarke into the drop ship. Leo, who was way to observant for his own good, watched her. "A friend is someone who is loyal, who is always there for you and who lets you them know when they're about to do something stupid. For example… you're not really thinking of going on this ridiculous mission, are you?" He asked in voice colored with disbelief. "No one knows where Jasper is or even how many grounders there are-"

Kat shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Anything is better then sitting around here, twiddling my thumbs and being judged by the entire group." Just wait until word gets around that the Captain of the Guard was actually her father. Many people seemed to forget that fact over the years, but now that they were being reminded, she didn't know if that was going to make things better or worse.

"But you can't go, you still have your injuries from last night and you haven't slept or ate-"

"First rule of being my friend – _don't _tell me what I can and can't do," Kat said firmly, looking over at him with a flash of her grey eyes. "I've always had someone trying to dictate my life and I'm not going to let it happen again."

Leo nodded slowly, accepting her reprimand. "Alright."

Great, now she felt slightly guilty. So much for keeping her anger under control. To make up for it, Kat hastily sent him a cocky grin. "Besides, I've still got a lot of adrenaline in me, and what better way to get rid of it then potentially kicking some grounder ass?"

"Well I can't argue with that logic," Leo replied drily, watching with her as Finn entered the drop ship too. "Just be careful."

"Will do. See ya later." Leo waved her away and Kat got up, hands in her jacket pockets as she joined the group in the drop ship. She had a friend. What a weird feeling.

She came in just as Finn was saying, "It's not an adventure, Clarke, it's a suicide mission."

"Did someone say suicide mission?" Kat said as a way of announcing her presence. "Sounds like fun, count me in."

"I don't remember inviting you," Clarke snapped, crossing her arms.

Kat smirked. "I don't remember asking for your permission."

Clarke opened her mouth, probably to protest some more, but Wells cut her off. "Stop Clarke. Like Monty just said, we need all the help we can get. Besides, Kat's a good fighter, if things get messy it won't hurt to have her there." She felt pleased at Wells' praise. In her opinion he couldn't have said anything nicer.

"Fine," Clarke reluctantly agreed. With a glare at Kat and a disappointed look at Finn, she left.

Wells took a step towards Finn. "Build a wall," he advised. "Use the fallen trees. I'll watch out for her."

Kat was mystified at the tension directed at Finn, but she didn't ask and she didn't want to know. She just shrugged and followed Wells out of the ship.

Clarke and Wells were heading towards the forest, and she let out a low groan when she realized they were making one final stop. Fucking Blake. Of course.

"You could have been killed," Blake was saying to his sister as he dressed her leg wound.

"And she would have been, if Jasper hadn't jumped in to pull her out," Clarke said, interrupting their conversation.

"Are you guys leaving?" Octavia said urgently, pulling her pant leg down. "I'm coming too-"

"No, no, no," Blake said firmly, putting out a hand to keep her seated. "No way, not again."

"He's right," Clarke agreed. "Your leg's just going to slow us down." Her attention shifted to Blake. "I'm here for you."

"Clarke what are you doing?" Wells protested. Personally, Kat was on Wells' side.

She ignored him. "I hear you have a gun." Kat's eyes widened as she saw Blake lift the back of his shirt, revealing a small black gun sticking out of his pants. Where in the hell did he get that? "Good. Follow me."

"Why would I do that?" Blake drawled, sounding only mildly curious.

Clarke turned back to him with raised eyebrows. "Because you want _them_ to follow you," she said is a soft, mocking voice. "And right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

Kat saw the challenge and anger in Blake's eyes and knew that he would be coming along. With a resigned sigh, Kat followed Clarke and Wells out into the forest, rolling her eyes when she heard Blake order Murphy to come with them.

This was just perfect. She was going to rescue some skinny kid with goggles from the mysterious grounders with an almost friend, a condescending, bossy know-it-all, an arrogant ass who had his own agenda and who she may or may not be attracted to, and a frog-looking psychopath who wanted to kill her. This was going to be _fun_.

* * *

**Author's Note: I have a confession to make. I'm ashamed to admit that I seriously debated not continuing this story. I feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of Bellarke fics out there (not that it's a bad thing, because I do like that pairing). Then I remembered all you wonderful people who reviewed and told me how much they liked the story, so I'm pushing on ahead! So long as people still like what I'm writing I won't let you down!**

**I sat at my computer for a good hour today trying to find a good ship name for Bellamy and Kat. What I came up with was ridiculous. Bat? Bitten? Seriously, those sound so stupid. The only one I kind of liked even though it sounds a little weird was Bellerina. What do you think? I'm hoping you guys have some ideas that are better then what I've got!**

**Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions about what you might want to see happen in future chapters, feel free to let me know! I like hearing feedback and advice on how to make my story better!**

**PS! I'm looking for a beta to help me out with my story. If you know of anyone who could help, send me a PM!**

**Okay I'm done ranting. Review please :)**


	4. Beginning of the End

Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 or anything you recognize.

**Author's Note: 46 favorites and 79 followers?! You guys are the best! Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed my story! Sorry for the long wait. For some reason this chapter was a pain in the ass to write. Hopefully it came out okay. Review and let me know what you think!**

* * *

**Kat's POV**

_One, two, three, four, five, six…_ Kat trudged through the forest, trying to use the trick that she had created when she was younger to clear her mind. _Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…_

She felt her body and her mind calm as the soft sounds of her footsteps through the grass and dirt lulled her into a sense of tranquility. Without a doubt, Kat knew that she needed to re-evaluate her actions and reactions since they had landed on earth.

She had been allowing herself to be ruled by her emotions and she knew from past experiences that it never worked out well for her. Mentally she took three giant steps back, allowing her mask of indifference to come back up and pushing her anger and irritation deep down.

Clarke and Wells were walking ahead of her, and Kat could tell by the tension in Wells' shoulders that it wasn't going well. Blake and Murphy were behind her, talking quietly to each other, and Kat knew that it wasn't anything good.

Sure enough, not even ten minutes into their journey…

"Hey!" Blake called out crashing loudly through the underbrush as he caught up to them. Kat rolled her eyes when she saw that he was holding the gun in the air carelessly. "Hold up! What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart."

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells said immediately, turning to face them.

"Why don't you do something about it," Murphy responded, stepping forward and pushing Wells back with a strong arm.

"Why don't you just take a step back, dipshit," Kat drawled in a disinterested voice, though she did step up on Wells' other side. "We know Wells is good-looking and all, but I think everyone would appreciate it if you could keep your hands off him for five seconds."

The corner of Wells' mouth twitched and Kat winked when he looked down at her.

"Shut up, Hale," Murphy snarled, glaring at her with narrowed eyes. "Why are you even here?"

Kat lifted a shoulder. "The company, obviously."

Unsurprisingly, Clarke ignored everything she was saying and dealt with the bigger problem, in this case, Blake. She looked him in the eye, her face set. "Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart he would have died instantly. That means we don't have time to waste."

Of course, Blake couldn't just let that go. "As soon as you take this wristband off," he explained with a smirk. "We can go."

Kat let out a snort of disbelief. So that was what he was after: Clarke's wristband. But why?

Clarke wrenched her arm out of his grip and took a threatening step towards him. "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead… is if I'm dead. Got it?"

Ah, now it made sense. This was another power play to make sure that the Ark never came down to Earth. Why the hell was he trying so hard?

He glanced at Murphy and his smirk grew. "Brave Princess."

"Hey why don't you find your own nickname?" A new voice interjected.

Kat looked over Murphy's shoulder and saw Finn striding towards them, a determined look on his face.

"Oh thank god!" Kat exclaimed in relief. "Someone with a sense of humor! Nice timing, Spacewalker. Between the sexual tension," she sent Murphy a significant glance, complete with raised eyebrows, "and the pissing match between our two wannabe leaders I was about to hand myself over to the grounders out of sheer annoyance."

Finn flicked her an amused grin, before turning back to the group. "You guys call this a rescue party? We gotta split up, cover more ground. Clarke, come with me." With one last hard look, Clarke turned and followed Finn as he led the way back into the forest.

The four of them just stood there for a second, silent. Without a word, Blake put the gun back into his waistband and set off, Murphy the loyal dog hot on his heels.

Kat and Wells looked at each other. He gave her a small smile. "So. You think I'm good-looking?"

She rolled her eyes, playfully punching him in the shoulder. "Typical. That would be what you got out of that entire conversation."

He shrugged, following her after the others. "What can I say, I'm a guy."

"Why does everybody keep saying that like it's some sort of excuse?" Kat asked, mystified. She shook her head. "I think that just proves your entire gender is pathetic."

"Pathetic?" He repeated, throwing her a mock offended look. "I think you mean that men are strong and extremely capable-" Kat shoved her hands back in her pockets and gave a small smile as she listened to Wells' longwinded explanation.

* * *

**Bellamy's POV**

"What are the chances that this kid is even still alive?" Murphy asked bitterly as they stepped over yet another log. They had already been walking for what felt like hours and there was still no indication from the others that they were getting close. "Like you said, he got hit in the heart with a spear. Even if he did scream, that was hours ago and he probably bled out by now."

"Who knows?" Bellamy replied in a bored voice. "But we won't get the high and mighty princess off our backs until we find this kid, dead or alive."

Murphy made a noise of irritation. "And what are we going to do about _her_?" Bellamy glanced over to see Murphy staring hard, lip curled in disgust. He followed his line of sight and saw with some surprise to see that he was glaring over at Kat, who was walking a couple of yards ahead of them with her head down and hands in her pockets.

Bellamy looked at her for a second, frowning, before turning back to Murphy. "What do you mean?"

"She's obviously a murdering psycho-bitch. We should get rid of her before she becomes a problem," Murphy insisted.

Truthfully, Bellamy didn't know what to think of the girl. She was a walking contradiction. He called her Kitten because he enjoyed how much it irritated her, but she really did look like this little fragile thing. She had delicate cheekbones, a small button nose, a thin frame and even porcelain like skin.

Yet he had seen the damage she could do.

Last night when he had walked back to find out what was taking Murphy so long, he had stood frozen in shock for a full minute as he watched Kat beat up three boys who were bigger then her.

He had recognized the cold, slightly unhinged look on Kat's face as she stood over Murphy's body and that was when he knew he had to step in.

"She might come in handy," Bellamy told Murphy in a thoughtful voice. "If there really are grounders out there it can't hurt to have someone on our side who knows a thing or two about fighting. And besides," He said, throwing Murphy a hard glance as he opened his mouth to interject. "You just want to get rid of her as revenge for kicking your ass." He strode away, missing the angry, flushed expression on Murphy's face.

He allowed his mind to drift back to last night. After Kat had become aware of her surroundings again, she had become terrified and fled. Her panicked voice flashed through his head. "_I'm not like him. I didn't want to hurt them!"_

At the time, he didn't have the faintest idea what she was talking about. But after witnessing her fight with Clarke, the pieces began to fall together. Her father, the slimy, cowardly asshole, had beaten her for most of her life. That must be was the "him" that Kat had been talking about.

Disgust ran through him at the thought. What kind of father beats his only daughter? And why the hell hadn't she told anybody?

"I can feel you staring a hole in the back of my head, you know." Bellamy blinked in surprise as he saw Kat slow down, turning back to look at him. "I've known you one day and I can already identify your thinking face." She waved a finger at him. "It's the slightly concussed look you have on right now. What are you thinking about?"

Bellamy quickly cast around for a different topic. "The odds of this kid surviving a spear in the chest," he said, repeating Murphy's earlier conversation.

Her face was carefully blank, but he thought he could detect a flicker of something behind those grey eyes. "You'd be surprised at the human capacity to survive when they're facing certain death," she said softly.

Bellamy's eyebrows slowly rose. "That was very deep, Kitten. Really, I'm impressed."

Kat rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, Blake."

She fell silent for a moment, but Blake sensed she wanted to say something else. She hesitated, then surprised him by turning around to face him. "Look. I'm only going to say this once and you can either listen to my advice or tell me to fuck off, I really don't care. Just let me get this out, okay?"

He frowned, confused. "Okay…"

Kat took a deep breath, then looked him straight in the eye. "If there was one thing that I learned from my father it was that being a leader, being in charge of a group of people is not easy. You become responsible for not only their actions, but also their lives. If you want to lead this rag tag group of juvenile delinquents, then like it or not this kid Jasper is one of your people. My father may have been an angry, abusive drunk, but he was good at his job." The corner of her mouth lifted up. "No man left behind and all that shit, right?"

Bellamy felt irritation run through him. He didn't want to lead these people. All he wanted, all he's ever really wanted from the time he was five years old, was to protect Octavia and keep her safe. If the Ark came down to Earth, he was a dead man. And if he was dead, how was he going to protect her? The only choice, the only option he has is to make sure that the Ark doesn't make it down here.

"I think I'll choose to tell you to fuck off," Bellamy told her dryly.

Kat stared at him for a second with wide eyes, then burst out into peals of loud bubbling laughter. Bellamy shifted uncomfortably, crossing his arms across his chest as he watched her double over. "What's your damage? Did you get hit in the head one too many times last night?"

She slowly straightened, wiping her eyes with a half smile still on her face. "Probably," she agreed, nodding. "I must have been if I think anything you say is funny."

"Hey, I'll have you know I have a great sense of humor," he protested, following behind her as she turned to start walking again. Or he used to, anyway.

"Oh yeah?" Kat said over her shoulder. "It must be hidden deep underneath all the arrogance and self-absorption."

"You know," Bellamy said lightly. "For someone who lectured me on judging you before I knew you, you're being a giant hypocrite."

Kat's step faltered and she whipped her head around to look at him in shock. "…You're right," she said slowly. "I – I apologize."

Bellamy found himself frowning yet again, unsure if he heard her correctly. Did she just say sorry? He had been expecting a snappy retort or a semi-witty remark, and although it was choked out and sounded like it physically pained her to say it, she had definitely just apologized.

"I don't want nor need your apology, Kitten," he said, rolling his eyes. "I was only making an observation."

"Well, you have it anyway," she said with a shrug. "And don't call me that," she added before beginning to turn around. She swayed, stumbling over her feet and Bellamy automatically reached out and grabbed her elbow to steady her. He pulled her upright, staring intently into her face.

"You're pale," he noted, with a frown. "Should you even be here right now?"

Kat yanked her arm out of his grip. "I'm fine. There's no reason to worry about me."

"I'm not," he retorted, following her as she started walking again. He glared at the back of her head with narrowed eyes. "If you're too weak and you get one of us killed-"

"I am _not_ weak," she snapped, those gray eyes flashing angrily at him. Again.

Stubborn little bitch. His own eyes narrowing, Bellamy tried a different tactic. "Look, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity-"

"First I'm weak and now I'm stupid? Damn Blake, you really know how to sweet talk a girl."

Despite himself, Bellamy let himself get completely distracted as he let out a derisive snort. "Sweet talk?" He repeated with a smirk. "Please. I usually don't even have to say anything – all it takes is one look and the girls are all over me."

Kat gave him a look, one eyebrow raised. "I really think everyone would appreciate it if you loved yourself a little less."

"I don't know if that's possible. There's just so much to love."

There was a slight hesitation in his response that Kat thankfully didn't catch. After what he did… there was quite a bit of himself that he didn't like at the moment.

Kat had stopped at the edge of the tree line and was just standing there. He stopped beside her. "We reached the river," She said quietly, stating the obvious. "The kid was hit somewhere along here, right?"

"Supposedly." He surveyed the area. There were thick, gray clouds in the sky, blocking out the sunlight and giving the forest a dark, sinister feeling. Large rocks blocked some parts of the river, though not enough to stop the flow of water. Cool, clear, refreshing water.

Bellamy didn't know about Kat, but he felt sticky with sweat and covered in dirt. He strode towards the water, heading for the part that was about waist deep.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Kat asked, scrambling after him. "Your sister was mauled by a man-eating snake and you're just going to hop in the river?"

"I talked to Octavia and the section of the river that they were near was much deeper," he informed her, striding in without hesitation. "Besides the way she described it the thing was huge and wouldn't be able to navigate through here."

He bent his knees, sighing with relief as the water to rushed up past his shoulders. Cupping some water in his hands he splashed some on his face and scrubbed the dirt and grime off. Blinking the water away, he looked up to see Kat still standing there. She had the same look in her eyes as she did this morning before the fight between Murphy and Wells. It was that intense, burning look that had left a trail of fire over his body in the wake of her gaze. He remembered thinking that he was glad that he had tan skin – he had almost blushed as she thoroughly and completely checked him out.

"What's the matter?" A disbelieving smirk crossed his face, and his eyes widened mockingly. "Oh Kitten. Don't tell me you're afraid of a little water!"

Kat's face hardened at his taunting, but he noticed that she shifted uneasily on her feet. "Scared?" She scoffed. "Who, me? Nope. Not this girl. Definitely not afraid of a little bit of water."

His smirk widened. "Then why are you still standing there?"

Throwing a final glare in his direction, Kat shuffled to the edge of the river, muttering under her breath the whole time. "What is there to be scared of? Man eating snakes? Ha! Drowning? It can't really be that hard to swim." She continued muttering as she slowly walking in, one small step at a time.

Bellamy rolled his eyes. "Would you hurry up? I think I just aged about 50 years."

"Stop being such an ass, Blake," She halfheartedly snapped before finally taking that final step to the waist deep water.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Kat didn't seem to hear him. There was a giant smile on her face as she bent her knees and leaned back to get her hair wet, being mindful of the cut on her head.

They were silent for a moment, taking in the peace and quiet. For a moment, Bellamy could almost forget that they were on a 20-mile trek looking for a skinny teenager in goggles who got speared by mysterious grounders.

"Do the look."

Bellamy opened his eyes to find Kat looking at him with a speculative look on her face. "The look?" He repeated blankly.

"Yeah. The one you use on girls that supposedly makes them want you. Do it on me."

His confusion turned to amusement. "I don't think that's a good idea. You won't be able to handle the look."

"What?" She asked indignantly. "Why not?"

"Are you forgetting about what happened this morning?" he said, giving her a knowing look. "You were ready to jump me and that was just without a shirt on. I wouldn't want you to spontaneously combust or something."

Kat's mouth flopped open as she struggled to find the words. "…I- I am _not_ attracted to you!" She finally insisted, though she was betrayed by the pink flush in her cheeks.

What was it about this girl that made him enjoy her reactions so much? He idly wondered just how far he would be able to push her.

"No?" Bellamy questioned lightly, standing up. Kat immediately straightened as he slowly began to wade his way toward her. "Are you sure about that… Kitten?"

"…Yes," she said in what was probably meant to be a strong voice, but came out breathy instead. "I don't even like you!" For every step that he took forward she took one back, moving until her back was pressed against the rocks. He placed his hands on either side of her head, effectively caging her in.

He liked the way he towered over her, liked the way she was forced to look up at him. He especially liked the way she met his gaze head on, that stubborn look in her gray eyes even though she was clearly out of her comfort zone.

"You don't need to like someone to be attracted to them," he told her softly, moving one step closer until he was a hair's breadth away.

"I don't-" she began in a strangled voice before breaking off and clearing her throat. "I don't understand what this… feeling is," she confessed.

Bellamy belatedly noticed that her eyes matched the stormy gray sky. Eyes that had just flicked down to his lips before jerking up to meet his gaze again. His stomach tightened in response.

"Your pupils are dilated… your breathing is heavy… you're cheeks are flushed," Bellamy traced a finger lightly down her cheek, before coming to rest lightly near her lips. Soft, full pink lips, the lower one slightly bigger then the upper one. He unconsciously licked his own lips. "Desire," he whispered, moving his finger lightly past her chin, down her neck making sure to skip over her bandage and tracing a line over the swell of her breasts. "What you're feeling is called desire."

"Desire," she repeated softly, closing her eyes. Goosebumps broke out over her skin and she shivered slightly as he continued tracing patterns.

Bellamy blinked in surprise as Kat suddenly opened her eyes and reached out, gently placing a hand on his chest, right over his heart. She was so much closer then he had realized – he could feel her breath tickling his chin.

The air abruptly felt charged with electricity and their surroundings seemed to fade away. All Bellamy was aware of was the warmth of her hand on his chest and those intense gray eyes.

She cocked her head to the side, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes. Curiosity shone through the lust in her gaze. "Your heart is beating almost as fast as mine. Are you feeling this too?"

_Yes. Fucking hell,_ Bellamy cursed silently. Damn hormones. He couldn't believe his entire plan just backfired. He wasn't supposed to be enjoying this as much as he was.

Bellamy slowly felt himself lowering his head, watching as Kat's lips parted in response. A thought suddenly crossed his mind and he frowned, pulling back to look at her. "Wait. Are you a virgin?" He blurted out. He inwardly winced at his lack to tact.

Kat blinked a couple times and shook her head slightly, clearly trying to think through the haze. "What?"

"You said you'd never had this feeling before. Are you a virgin?" He tried hard not to make his voice sound accusing but by the twist of her lips he knew he didn't succeed.

Kat rolled her eyes, withdrawing her hand. Just like that, whatever moment they had been having was broken. Bellamy was able to breathe properly again and the world faded back into view.

"I was locked up from the time I was 13, Blake. There's surprisingly not that much time to have sex in the Skybox. Of course I'm a virgin."

Bellamy felt uncomfortable – he didn't know what to think. All of the girls that he had ever been with had been experienced. There was nothing wrong with virgins, of course, but there was a lot of responsibility on the guy to make them feel comfortable. Plus, they tended to get a bit clingy and when you weren't looking for a relationship, things could get messy.

The girls he has sex with know who he was and what he wants – casual sex and nothing more.

Reading the look on his face Kat gave a small huff and slipped out from between him and the rocks, wading over to the opposite side of the river. "I'm not going to apologize for being a virgin, Blake. If it makes you feel weird or uncomfortable then that's your problem, not mine."

"I'm just surprised," Bellamy tried explaining. "Since girls have that…procedure done when they officially 'become a woman' or whatever, there was no reason to fear unexpected pregnancies."

Sex was a pretty normal occurrence on the Ark, for both the males and females.

"I think hearing you stumble through that almost makes up for you purposefully trying to get a reaction out of me." Kat said in amusement.

"Trying? I'm pretty sure I succeeded," he chuckled.

"Kat! Bellamy!" They turned at the sound of Murphy's voice echoing through the trees. "Finn found a trail over here!"

"Idiot," Kat muttered, climbing out of the river. "If there are any grounders around they're going to know exactly where we are. We better get moving before he starts shouting again," Kat said to him.

Bellamy stepped out after her, wringing out his shirt and jacket. Kat speed walked through the forest, most likely trying to get away from him.

She was muttering under her breath again and Bellamy grinned when he heard, "…betrayed by my own body…"

He caught up with her quickly. "There's no reason to be embarrassed Kitten. A lot of girls are attracted to me. I promise I won't think any less of you for it."

"No but I might. I don't know you but as of right now I don't even really like you."

"Why not? We have more in common then you think."

"How so?" She asked, sounding skeptical.

"That anger you feel," Bellamy said quietly, speaking as if he were thinking out loud. Kat looked away, staring hard at the ground. "The anger that you try _so hard_ to hide and keep contained – but when it becomes too much it spreads to every part of your body and the only way to get rid of that much energy is to fight, to hit something in order to make yourself feel better. Does that sound familiar?"

Kat stopped and looked at him, an unreadable expression on her face. After a moment, she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Wells.

"There you are!" He said, exasperated. "Hurry up, Jasper might not have that much time left."

Kat searched Bellamy's eyes for a moment more before turning to Wells, mustering up a smile. "Yes. Right behind you."

Bellamy watched her leave, frowning. What had she been about to say?

* * *

**Kat's POV**

"Hey how do we know this is the right way?" Murphy complained.

Kat rolled her eyes. Damn Blake for inviting him along – he'd done nothing but complain and cause problems. Their group was currently walking along the rocks, following a trail that Clarke and Finn had supposedly found.

"We don't," Blake stated. "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker."

Don't even get her started on Bellamy Blake. She refused to examine what had happened in the river earlier until she had enough time to fully think it through. Just thinking about Blake filled her with a mixture of irritation, confusion, and a strong desire to either kiss him or punch him in the face.

"It's called cutting sign. 4th year earth skills, he's good," Wells said.

"You wanna keep it down or should I paint a target on my back?" Finn asked sarcastically.

Kat tried hard to see what Finn was seeing, but it was hopeless. She just didn't have the skills or the necessary schooling. Curious, she sidled up next to him. "Serious question, how do you know where you're going?" She asked. "What trail are you following?"

He gave her a small smile. "You have to look for man-made disturbances in nature. Like a foot-print in the dirt or…" he broke off and approached a nearby bush, picking up a broken branch. "Something like this."

He quickly knelt down and Kat followed suit, following his gaze and grimacing when she saw red dots down on the rocks. "Blood," she said quietly.

Clarke knelt down on the other side of her. "We must be close." Finn and Clarke shared a significant glance that made Kat raise her eyebrows as she looked between the two of them. It seemed that whatever fight or disagreement they had earlier was already forgotten.

A loud, guttural moan broke through the silence. Kat felt the hairs on her arms stand up as all of the muscles in her body tensed.

"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked, an undercurrent of fear in his voice.

"Now would be a good time to take out that gun," Clarke said ominously as she stood up and headed directly towards the creepy noise.

Kat followed Clarke and Finn as they hurried through the forest, jumping over logs and breaking through bushes. The moaning became louder and Kat skidded to a halt as they suddenly reached a clearing.

"Jasper," Clarke whispered in horror.

Kat blinked once, then twice. Then rubbed her eyes vigorously, almost certain that she must be seeing things. When she looked again, however, nothing had changed.

She clenched her jaw, feeling sick. A thick, misshapen tree stood in the middle of the high grass and sitting in that tree, his hands tied to the branch above him was Jasper. He was unconscious and pale, with his shirt off and blood and dirt splattered across his body.

"Holy shit," she whispered, appalled.

"Oh my god, Jasper!" Clarke called, hurrying forward to help him.

Kat followed close behind them, eyes locked on Jasper. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Why would they tie him up there like that?

All of a sudden Clarke let out a yelp as a trap door in the ground suddenly sprang open. One second she was there and the next Blake was kneeling at the edge of the pit, his grip on her wrist the only thing stopping her from falling to her death.

In the moment that it took Kat to process what had happened, she was sure that Blake was going to drop Clarke. Since she was standing to the side, she saw the look on his face, the darkness lurking behind his eyes as he thought it through.

Kat sprang forward, grabbing Clarke's other arm as the others shouted and rushed forward to help pull Clarke up.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked, when she was standing on solid ground again.

"Yeah," Clarke said, panting, fear still evident on her face. Of course, it didn't take long for her to re-focus on Jasper. "We need to get him down."

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines," Finn offered.

"Yeah, I'm with you," Wells said.

"No. Stay with Clarke. And watch him," Finn ordered, sending a dark, distrusting look at Blake, who for once had nothing to say. Probably regretting not dropping Clarke. "You." Finn nodded to Murphy. "Let's go."

"What's that green thing on his chest?" Kat asked, staring up at the poor kid. He didn't even look like he was breathing.

"There's a poultice on his wound," Clarke said, mystified and slightly alarmed.

"Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells asked.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes his dinner to be breathing," Blake suggested. Kat inwardly shuddered at the thought of giant monsters that eat humans.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us," Finn added.

"No, that doesn't sound right," Kat said slowly, thinking out loud. "That trap would have killed Clarke and who knows who else. They have the skill and accuracy to throw a spear over 200 yards so if they wanted to kill us we'd be dead by now. They speared Jasper in the chest and then saved his life…strung him up high in the tree so that we'd be able to see him clearly. I think this was meant as some kind of warning."

"I don't know which option is worse," Wells murmured softly.

Nobody quite knew what to say after that. They watched as Finn and Murphy slowly made their way up the tree, carefully cutting at the vines surrounding Jaspers body.

"Be careful!" Clarke called up to them. Kat had to forcefully stop herself from rolling her eyes yet again. _No shit, genius._

A loud rustling noise suddenly came from the high grass to their right. Everybody tensed.

"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked for the second time in fifteen minutes. Kat noted with satisfaction that he sounded scared – serves him right.

"Grounders?" Blake suggested, shifting uneasily. A low warning growl echoed along with the rustling.

"Do grounders growl like that?" Kat hissed, eyes darting through the grass, trying to identify the source of the noise.

"How should I know?" Blake shot back, frustrated.

"Oh fuck," Kat cursed as a powerful, black animal slowly stalked forward into view. Sharp teeth were visible even from where they were standing and its dark, glittering eyes were currently locked on them.

It gave a frightening roar and sprang forward into a run. "Bellamy, gun!" Clarke shouted.

Blake reached around to pull the gun from his pants, but he came back empty handed, looking at Kat with wide eyes full of confusion and panic. Oh damn. They were in trouble.

Two gunshots came from nowhere and Kat swung around to see Wells standing with the gun pointed at the animal, a look of deep concentration on his face. He managed to hit it in the leg, making its step falter, but it didn't stop it from coming for them.

Kat's heart was pounding fiercely in her chest, as she racked her brain, trying to think of a way out. With her eyes locked on what she could see of the animal, Kat slowly and carefully bent down and pulled the switchblade out of her boot without making any sudden movements.

The animal disappeared into the high grass surrounding her and Blake. It somehow sounded like the animal was coming at them from all sides, but Kat forced herself to keep her breathing calm and even, her eyes methodically moving in all directions. Blake was constantly shifting and she could hear him panting loudly.

Kat flicked her knife open. A loud growl came from Blake's left and Kat moved on autopilot, brushing past him and bringing her right arm back, throwing the blade with all her might.

Kat watched in dismay as it struck the beasts shoulder instead of its throat, which was what she was aiming for.

Damn it. She was too rusty and now it was going to cost her her life.

She watched in slow motion as the beast gathered its muscles beneath it and sprang for her, teeth and claws bared. Kat's eyes shut both in terror and disappointment.

She was going to die, right when she finally had the opportunity to live.

"Kat!" Bellamy shouted angrily. "Look out!" He grabbed her arm and yanked her back roughly as the animal leaped forward with a snarl.

She stumbled and lost her balance as he pulled too hard. They both tumbled to the ground, Blake shielding her from the animal with his body.

Kat heard Clarke shouting, more gunshots, and then finally, silence. Kat's eyes fluttered open and almost went cross eyed at how close Blake was. His entire body was pressed up against hers, heavy and warm and…

"What is wrong with you?" Blake practically shouted. Kat blinked. She really liked him so much better when he wasn't speaking. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Kat shoved him off and stood, brushing the dirt and grass from her body. "I was trying to save your _life_, you moron." He straightened, his face still angry, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"If I hadn't pulled you back-"

"Then I would still be alive because Wells would still have shot it," she interjected in a distracted voice. "Now if you would stop yelling, my head would really appreciate it." She was staring at the giant animal lying on the ground, which she could tell was some type of cat.

Kat went over to the dead animal and pulled her knife out of its shoulder wiping the blood on it's fur, before closing it up and shoving it back in her boot. She stared the beast in the face. Even in death it was powerful and terrifying. She had thought for sure that she was going to die, or at the very least be severely maimed.

"Now she sees you," Blake said to Wells. Kat didn't even have the energy to examine the cryptic statement.

Wells came over to join her, kneeling next to the giant beast to get a closer look.

"Thanks for the save," Kat said softly, nudging him with her shoulder. "I don't know how I can-"

"Consider us even," Wells interrupted, glancing at her with a small smile. "For trying to help me last night." She wanted to explain how that didn't even come close to the fact that he just saved her life, but he didn't give her the chance.

"Nice knife," he said, nodding at it. "Where'd you get it?"

"It was my fathers," Kat said shortly. An awkward moment descended between them. "Do you think it would be safe to eat this?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

Wells frowned. "Probably. We'd have to take the fur off and cook the meat, but it should be okay."

Kat's stomach gave a loud, bubbling, gurgle at the thought and her mouth flooded with saliva. Kat gave him a tired yet amused grin at the shocked look on his face. "What's that phrase? I'm so hungry I could eat a cat?"

Wells' mouth twitched. "Horse. Its 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.'"

She shrugged. "Whatever. Now how are we going to drag this thing back to camp?"

He took off his backpack and pulled out a part of the drop ship's parachute. "Here. Help me put it in this so it's easier to carry."

"Sure," she said, grabbing the beasts legs and helping Wells drag it on the parachute.

"We found Jasper alive, we didn't run into any grounders and were going to have food in our stomach's for the first time in over 24 hours. Maybe things will start looking up for us," Wells said hopefully.

"Famous last words," Kat muttered, watching Clarke shout orders at Finn and Murphy who had finally cut Jasper loose. Blake, who had been watching them with his arms crossed, looked over at her, meeting her gaze. His brown eyes darkened and Kat wished she could tell what he was thinking. She turned back to Wells. "I sure as hell hope you're right."

* * *

**Author's Note: Just wanted to mention the whole 'procedure' thing that I mentioned. The show hasn't mentioned how they handle the population control so effectively up on the Ark. I was purposefully vague because I couldn't even begin to fathom what they do, but when the show brings it up then I will go back and fix it in my story. I just wanted to get across the fact that unexpected pregnancies don't usually happen and a lot of teens and adults have the option of a carefree sex life. In case you couldn't tell, this story WILL NOT be taking the whole pregnancy/baby route. Hopefully this is okay!**

**On another note, I've found someone to beta my story :) She isn't available until the middle of June and I want to go through these first couple of chapters before I post anything else, so unless I can write the next chapter quickly, it might be a little bit of a wait. But don't worry, I'm not abandoning you guys!**

**As always, I appreciate any questions, comments, or suggestions so don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think :) You guys are awesome!**


End file.
